England gained a measure of revenge against Italy with a 2-1 win in an international friendly, while the likes of Holland, Germany and Croatia suffered losses.
Danielle De Rossi put the Italians in front with a header in the 15th minute, before Everton defender Phil Jagielka returned the compliment with a fine header in the 27th minute. In a game that bore no resemblance to the Euro 2012 quarterfinal, with several players missing from both teams, Jermain Defoe popped up with a powerful strike with ten minutes to go, to hand England the win.
England manager Roy Hodgson was extremely pleased with his young side's performance. "It gave us a chance to see so many new players; it might have been different if we'd had to use the same players we'd used through the Euros," the former Liverpool manager told ITV.
"It was great to give the senior players a rest and blood so many new players, or players who didn't get the chance before, and I thought they answered the challenge in the best possible way.
"There was not a lot different from what we were trying to do in the Euros, but maybe tonight we showed a little bit more composure on the ball and managed to pass it a bit better."
Hodgson praised Manchester United's Tom Cleverley. "We know he's a good player and he's a very, very important player for Man United.
"Last year they were very unlucky to lose him so early and we've been pleased to see him back in form so early, and he must be pleased to add to that with a good performance for the England first team."
In other matches, Argentina, courtesy strikes from Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria, scored a 3-1 victory over Germany while the Dutch continued their poor form, suffering a 4-2 loss to neighbours Belgium.
Christian Benteke opened the scoring for Belgium, before the Netherlands went into the lead through goals from Lucian Narsingh and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. However, Belgium hit back through goals from Dries Mertens and English Premier League pair Romelu Lukaku and Jan Vertonghen to seal a convincing win.
Arsenal's new signing Santi Cazorla was on target along with former Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas as Spain ran out 2-1 winners over Puerto Rico.
Brazil recovered from their London Olympics disappointment with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Sweden, thanks to goals from Leandro Damiao and Alexandre Pato. Croatia were surprisingly beaten 4-2 by Switzerland while Russia were held to a 1-1 draw by the Ivory Coast.
