Germany beat Brazil at last, Spain lose

(Reuters) : A late goal rush helped Germany beat Brazil for the first time in 18 years while world champions Spain suffered defeat on a bumper night of international friendlies on Wednesday.

Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mario Goetze and Andre Schuerrle all struck in the last half hour for Germany in a 3-2 home win over the 2014 World Cup hosts to raise the pressure on Brazil coach Mano Menezes whose side replied through Robinho and Neymar.

In a clash of the last two World Cup winners in Bari, Spain were beaten 2-1 by Italy with Alberto Aquilani scoring the winner late on with a deflected shot.

Many of the nations scrapping for qualification places for next year’s European championships in Poland and Ukraine were in action as they prepared for forthcoming group matches, although England’s friendly against Netherlands had been called off on Tuesday because of the civil unrest that has hit London.

France, steadily rebuilding after their atrocious World Cup campaign last year, were held to a 1-1 draw by Chile in Montpellier. Loic Remy was on target for France with Nicolas Cordova equalising for the South Americans.

Poland, who do not have to worry about qualifying for next year’s tournament, earned a narrow 1-0 victory over Georgia in Lubin while co-hosts Ukraine went down 1-0 at home to Sweden.