Friendlies: Neymar helps Brazil defeat Japan as England hold Germany

Posted Saturday, November 11, 2017 by ESPN

Friendlies: Neymar helps Brazil defeat Japan as England hold Germany
Joe Gomez and England held out for a draw with Germany.

Neymar scored a penalty but missed another in Brazil's 3-1 friendly win over Japan in France on Friday.

The Paris Saint-Germain striker converted his penalty in the ninth minute, sending Eiji Kawashima the wrong way, but the Japan goalkeeper palmed away Neymar's second attempt from the spot eight minutes later.

However, Marcelo still doubled Brazil's lead in the next minute with a superb strike into the top left corner following a corner that was poorly cleared.

Brazil made it 3-0 after Japan gave the ball away close to the box. Willian found Danilo on the right flank with the outside of his boot and the Manchester City defender set up Gabriel Jesus at the far post with a precise cross.

Japan managed to pull one back from a corner when Tomoaki Makino rose above the defenders to head past goalkeeper Cassio in the 63rd minute.

Germany and a young England squad played out a 0-0 draw at Wembley.

Leroy Sane went close for the visitors in the first half when his shot hit the side-netting, and he was desperately unlucky in the 20th minute when his curling effort from the edge of the box hit the underside of the crossbar but bounced down back into play.

And the Manchester City midfielder should have scored any moments later. Timo Werner broke through and saw his shot superbly kept out by Jordan Pickford. But the loose ball fell to Sane, who steadied himself before beating the goalkeeper -- only to see it headed off the line by Phil Jones, who soon exited with an injury.

England's Tammy Abraham came inches from breaking the deadlock as his shot deflected off Antonio Rudiger and went inches wide of the post, and Jesse Lingard wasted a chance to win with the final kick of the game, blazing over the bar following a set piece.

France underlined their status as World Cup contenders next summer with an impressive 2-0 win over Wales in Paris.

Antoine Griezmann's role in the France side had been questioned of late, but he struck in Les Bleus' final World Cup qualifier against Belarus last month and he did so again on Friday after 18 minutes. Corentin Tolisso spotted the run of Griezmann and Wayne Hennessey was unable to stop his left-foot volley.

France put the game to bed after 72 minutes when Kylian Mbappe scorched down the right. The Paris Saint-Germain striker found Olivier Giroud infield and a cruel deflection off the unfortunate James Chester wrong-footed Hennessey.

Romelu Lukaku scored twice but Belgium were held to a thrilling 3-3 draw with Mexico in Brussels.

Belgium put their noses in front after 17 minutes through Eden Hazard, the elusive attacker starting the move from the centre and slotting home the rebound after Lukaku's powerful shot was parried into his path.

But Mexico collected an equaliser seven minutes before half-time as Javier Hernandez was pulled down in the box by Laurent Ciman while sprinting to meet a cross from the right wing. Andres Guardado then converted from the spot to tie the game at 1-1 before the break.

Lukaku restored Belgium's lead in the 55th minute by bundling home a finish of Dries Mertens' cross after fine work down the right by the Napoli attacker.

Mexico answered seconds later, Hirving Lozano wonderfully lashing home after deftly settling Hector Moreno's long ball. And El Tri sensationally went in front in the 60th minute with Lozano's volley from 15 yards.

But Belgium hit back 10 minutes later through Lukaku, who confidently lifted Mertens' rolled cross just under the crossbar from inside the six-yard box.

Goncalo Guedes scored his maiden international goal as Euro 2016 winners Portugal beat Saudi Arabia 3-0 in the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Guedes set up Manuel Fernandes to open the scoring in the first half before adding a goal of his own after the break, and Joao Mario sealed the win late on.

Son Heung-Min scored twice to guide South Korea to a 2-1 win over Colombia.

The Tottenham man found his first in the 11th minute by poking the ball through Cristian Zapata's legs. He added his second after the hour mark with a shot from distance that Leandro Castellanos could not halt.

Zapata got a goal back with a header following a James Rodriguez cross from a free kick, but the hosts held on to win.

Adem Ljajic and Aleksandar Mitrovic scored as Serbia beat China 2-0 in Guangzhou.

Ljajic opened the scoring in the 20th minute, lashing home after Dusan Tadic saw two shots blocked in the box, and in the second half Mitrovic headed home a cross from Andrija Zivkovic.

Edinson Cavani and Uruguay could not find a way to break down Poland and settled for a goalless draw in Warsaw.

Urkaine rallied to defeat Slovakia 2-1 as Andriy Yarmolenko and Yevheniy Konoplyanka scored on counter-attacks either side of half-time to erase Lukas Stetina's early opener.

Georgia beat Cyprus 1-0, Giorgi Kvilitaia scoring the only goal after a poor goalkeeper clearance.

An own goal gave Haiti a 1-0 win away to United Arab Emirates as the ball went in off of defender Mahmoud Khami after Haiti's Duckens Nazon struck the post.