Italy and the Netherlands won Wednesday on a busy night of exhibition soccer, but England and France lost to lower-rated opponents and Brazil managed only a tie at China.
The Italians beat Portugal 1-0 at Genoa on a goal created by Fabrizio Miccoli and Bernardo Corradi, forwards playing their first game for the national team. Miccoli's header in the 62nd minute was blocked by goalkeeper Ricardo Pereira, and Corradi knocked in the rebound. It was Portugal's first game under Luiz Filipe Scolari, who coached Brazil to last year's World Cup title.
The Netherlands, which failed to qualify for the World Cup, won its seventh straight game by beat visiting Argentina 1-0 at Amsterdam. Giovanni van Bronckhorst scored in the 86th minute.
Australia, playing its first game in 14 months, upset England 3-1 in London on goals by Tony Popovic, Harry Kewell and Brett Emerton. Francis Jeffers got the only goal for the English, who used Wayne Rooney in the second half, making him at 17 years, 111 days their youngest national team player ever. The record had been held by James Prinsep,141 days older when he played against Scotland in 1879.
The Czech Republic beat European champion France 2-0 at Saint-Denis on goals by Zdenek Grygera and Milan Baros.
Brazil, which defeated China 4-0 in the World Cup, used its top players at Guangzhou but managed only a scoreless tie in the return of coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, who led the Brazilians to the 1994 World Cup title in the United States.
Spain beat visiting Germany 3-1 at Palma de Mallorca as Raul Gonzalez scored twice and Jose Maria Gutierrez once. Gonzalez became Spain's career scoring leader with 31 goals, one more than Fernando Hierro.
In late games, the United States won 2-1 at Jamaica and Colombia tied Mexico 0-0.
There was one qualifier for the 2004 European Championship, with Azerbaijan rallying for a 2-2 tie at Serbia-Montenegro in Group Nine.
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