Germany rout Italy, England lose to Netherlands in international friendlies
Germany rout Italy, England lose to Netherlands in international friendlies
Mario Goetze scored on his international comeback to help Germany beat Italy for the first time in more than 20 years, a 4-1 drubbing in their friendly on Tuesday.

Mario Goetze scored on his international comeback to help Germany beat Italy for the first time in more than 20 years, a 4-1 drubbing in their friendly on Tuesday.

Goetze, who had only played 53 minutes for Bayern Munich since a groin injury sustained against Ireland on Oct. 8, headed Germany's second goal before the break after Toni Kroos opened the scoring.

Goetze was also involved in the third before the hour-mark, setting Julian Draxler free to cross for Jonas Hector's first international goal.

Meanwhile, in the other match England came crashing down to earth with a frustrating 2-1 loss to an inexperienced Netherlands side at Wembley on Tuesday, failing to build on their defeat of world champions Germany last weekend.

Second-half goals from Dutch forward Vincent Janssen and substitute Luciano Narsingh cancelled out a Jamie Vardy strike in the first half, sapping the optimism around Roy Hodgson's side ahead of this June's European Championship finals.

On paper it should have been a routine victory for England -- a team undefeated at Wembley for 2-1/2 years, brimming with Premier League talent and up against an injury-hit, experimental Dutch outfit that failed to qualify for the Euros.

Whereas, France bristled with goal scoring threat just 10 weeks before they host Euro 2016 as they beat Russia 4-2 in a friendly international on Tuesday.

In the first soccer match at the Stade de France since last November's deadly Paris attacks, Les Bleus played some attractive football and scored through N'Golo Kante, Andre-Pierre Gignac, Dimitri Payet and Kingsley Coman.

Seven players have now scored in two games after Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud and Blaise Matuidi were on target in the 3-2 win against the Netherlands four days earlier.

On the other side, Portugal proved too strong for a Belgian side shorn of its regular defence and creative midfielders, securing a 2-1 victory in a Euro 2016 warm-up friendly played in the shadow of last week's Brussels attacks.

Belgium were due to have hosted the match in Brussels, but it was switched to Leiria in Portugal after the bombings at Brussels Airport and the city's metro that killed 32 people, excluding three suspected suicide bombers.

Belgium, who are number one in the FIFA world rankings, were missing half their regulars and this gave fringe players a chance to stake a claim for Euro 2016 squad berths. In the event, few excelled, with keeper Thibaut Courtois the stand out player.

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