Argentina lifted the pressure on coach Diego Maradona with a 1-0 victory away to Germany and Spain heaped more on Raymond Domenech with a 2-0 triumph in France on a big night of friendlies building up to the World Cup.
Gonzalo Higuain scored the only goal in first half injury time in Munich as Maradona's team showed it may have left its poor form in World Cup qualifying behind.
"It was (like) a World Cup game," Maradona said. "The lads played a great match. I've nothing but praise for all of them."
Argentina's victory was clouded by an injury to defender Martin Demichelis, who suffered a broken cheekbone when he was hit accidentally in the face by the knee of Germany captain Michael Ballack.
Goals by David Villa and Sergio Ramos gave European champion Spain a comfortable victory over the French at the Stade de France where some of the home fans called for Domenech's resignation.
Like Argentina, France struggled to get to the World Cup and needed a blatant Thierry Henry handball in a playoff against Ireland to get there.
Two goals from Peter Crouch helped England to a come-from behind victory over Egypt, the African champion which failed to qualify for the World Cup.
After Mohammed Zidan had stunned England with a 24th minute goal, two second half goals from Crouch with a strike by Shaun Wright-Phillips in between gave Fabio Capello's team victory after they had been booed off the Wembley pitch at halftime.
"I said to the players to press more to win the ball back quickly and in the second half we did that," said England coach Fabio Capello. "Crouch is a big option for me because sometimes you can play long ball. Today we didn't, and he played very well with one touch, two touches.
"In the second half he made the difference."
The Netherlands beat the United States 2-1 in a meeting of two more World Cup teams in which the Americans lost winger Stuart Holden with a bruised shin in the first half.
Dirk Kuyt gave the Dutch the lead with a 39th minute penalty after Jonathan Bornstein had tugged Wesley Sneijder's shirt and Klaas Huntelaar added a second in the 72nd minute. Carlos Bocanegra replied for the Americans in the 88th minute .
World Cup holder Italy was held to a 0-0 draw by Cameroon with both sides fielding experimental lineups in Monte Carlo.
"It was a very useful match," said Italy coach Marcello Lippi. "It was useful because we had a chance to have a look at a couple of the younger guys who haven't been involved before. (Andrea) Cossu and (Leonardo) Bonucci were confident and showed personality, so it was definitely useful."
Lee Dong-gook and substitute Kwak Tae-hwi fired South Korea to a 2-0 victory over Ivory Coast in a meeting of two more World Cup teams at Loftus Road in West London. Brazil coach Dunga, whose team faces Ivory Coast in group play, was among several coaches in the crowd.
The Ivorians are looking for a new coach after firing Vahid Halihodzic last month and former England and Mexico coach Sven-Goran Eriksson was also at the game along with Ciro Ferrara, formerly in charge of Juventus.
Serbia outplayed Algeria 3-0 away from home with goals by Marko Pantelic, Zdravko Kuzmanovic and Zoran Tosic and twin strikers Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez were among the scorers as Uruguay came from behind to win 3-1 away to Switzerland.
Portugal beat China 2-0 with Cristiano Ronaldo setting up the first for Hugo Almeida after 36 minutes and Hugo Almeida adding the second in second half injury time.
Some of the World Cup bound teams lost to non-qualifiers, some of them at home.
Euro 2004 champion Greece tumbled 2-0 at home to Senegal and Morten Moldskred's 67th minute strike gave Norway a 1-0 victory at Slovakia.
Although Inter Milan midfielder Sulley Muntari, who was left out of the Africa Cup of Nations squad, gave Ghana a 22nd minute lead, goals by Vedad Ibisevic and Miralem Pjanic gave Bosnia-Herezegovina, a World Cup playoff loser, a 2-1 victory.
Despite Nicklas Bendtner's equalizer, Denmark went down 2-1 away to Austria with Roman Wallner scoring the winner for the home side.
Emre Gungor and Hamit Altintop gave Turkey a 2-0 win over Honduras in Istanbul.
