Soccer: Ukraine sign off in style for Germany

Ukraine proved they can score without skipper Andriy Shevchenko on Sunday when they beat Costa Rica 4-0 in their farewell performance before departing for the soccer World Cup.

Less than three weeks before they begin their first World Cup finals campaign against Spain, they outclassed a hapless Costa Rica side who face hosts Germany in the competitions' opener in Berlin on June 9.

Zlatko Kranjcar's Croatia, who qualified undefeated for the World Cup finals, came within a whisker of losing to Iran when they needed a Marko Babic penalty deep in stoppage time to salvage a 2-2 draw in Osijek.

The Iranians, also warming up for the action in Germany, had twice been in front through Ali Karimi and Arash Borhani before their goalkeeper Ebrahim Mirzapour was rather harshly adjudged to have brought down Ivica Olic in the 95th minute.

In Sunday's other international friendly, Ecuador's poor run of form since booking their place in Germany continued when they were beaten 2-1 by Macedonia in Madrid.

To make matters worse for Ecuador, who have only won one of their last nine games, striker Carlos Tenorio was carried off on a stretcher with a leg injury midway through the second half.

"Carlos has a calf injury, but we will have to wait for the results of a scan tomorrow," said Ecuador coach Luis Fernando Suarez. "I just hope and pray that he will be with us for the start of the World Cup."

Ukraine struck three times in the opening 40 minutes in Kiev, Serhiy Nazarenko, Andriy Vorobei and Maxim Kalnychenko all on target. Olexiy Belik completed the easy victory 13 minutes after the break.

Despite the emphatic victory Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin was not totally pleased with his team's performance.

"In a warm-up the result doesn't count," he told reporters.

"What really counts is discipline on defence, team work and the ability to play an all-round game. We need to work on all those aspects of the game."

Shevchenko, the 2004 European Player of the Year, is still recovering from a knee injury he sustained playing for his club AC Milan earlier this month but is expected to be fit for Ukraine's World Cup opener against Spain on June 14.

France's WoHrld Cup preparations have not gone as smoothly as planned, with reports of training camp bust-ups and a burglary at the holiday home of midfielder Patrick Vieira.

Saturday's unconvincing 1-0 victory over Mexico was greeted with discontent in the Stade de France, provoking a furious reaction from some of the players.

"We're starting to wonder whether the Paris fans really want us to win games," said Arsenal striker Thierry Henry, who stayed on the bench against Mexico.

Defender Willy Sagnol went even further.

"I'm fed up with it," he said. "It's been going on for a while...In Paris, you get the impression that the people in the stands do not come to support the team but to watch a show.

"Maybe the solution would be for us to stop playing in Paris."

A raft of international friendlies take place next week, starting with Ghana against Jamaica in Leicester on Monday.

In the pick of Tuesday's games featuring World Cup qualifiers, England face Hungary, Argentina face Angola and Germany take on Japan.

- REUTERS