Four-all in a game of two halves

Spains unrivaled collection of players switched off with a minute to go in its home game against France and lost its record of 24 consecutive victories in European and World Cup qualifiers. Again the contest finished level,1-1,in Madrid.

Portugal went through the palaver of handing Cristiano Ronaldo his 100th national team cap on the field before its match in Oporto,and then had to chase the game for a late equalising goal against Northern Ireland,a country ranked 114 places beneath it.

The sport has been going for more than a century,and some of the elite still cannot figure out how to get the basics done. Germany had never before given up a four-goal lead in the 868 games played by the Mannschaft. There were 72,369 witnesses to the first time it happened,at the Olympic Stadium on Tuesday.

Inside the first 15 minutes,Miroslav Klose,that stealthy accumulator of goals,had slipped through the Swedish defensive lines to score twice. His first goal was a sweet sliding volley with his left foot,his second a short stab of his right.

The giant defender Per Mertesacker and the accomplished creator Mesut Ozil then scored for Germany shortly before and after half time.

Did we believe at 3-0 down at halftime that we could get a result? Swedens coach,Erik Hamren,mused after the game. No. No,there was no one who thought that. There was,possibly,one man who sensed something was possible. We were too scared,too respectful of the Germans, said Zlatan Ibrahimovic,Swedens talismanic forward.

Ibrahimovic made the first mark of disrespect,scoring at 62 minutes. And when Mikael Lustig scored a second for the Swedes moments later,Philipp Lahm,the German captain,admitted that his team had begun to fall apart at the seams.

Johan Elmander made it 4-3 after 76 minutes,and in the third minute of added time Rasmus Elm equalised. I dont know how to explain it, Germany coach Joachim Löw said. The problem seems to have been mental after 60 minutes,we became sloppy and lost our discipline. Presumption,no doubt,was their undoing. The Swedes refused to give up a seemingly lost cause,and the Germans probably started to preserve some energy for the club matches this weekend.

Germany,nevertheless,comfortably leads its qualifying group.

Costly slip-up

Spain,on the other hand,now has a real fight on its hands because of its late slip-up against France. The two are even on points in their group,from which only one country will automatically qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

After all the work we put in for 90 minutes against such a tough team, said Sergio Ramos,who shot Spain ahead at the Vicente Calderón Stadium,we are left looking a bit foolish. We had the three points practically in the bag,and gave away a draw at the end. France equalised from the head of Olivier Giroud,who replaced Karim Benzema with just two minutes left in regulation time. By then,France had turned the game around by putting pressure on the Spanish midfield throughout the second half.

Spain had missed a penalty kick when Cesc Fàbregas tamely failed to beat Hugo Lloris. And in the manner that the French coach Didier Deschamps was noted for as a player,Les Bleus ran and ran until their host was exhausted.

This never-say-die spirit was alive and well in the Northern Irish players. After watching Portugals previous idol Luís Figo ceremoniously hand Ronaldo his 100th cap,the Irish declined to lie down as fodder. Niall McGinn scored on a breakaway after 30 minutes,his first international goal.

Ronaldo and the rest missed their chances apart from a face-saving goal 11 minutes from the end from close range by Hélder Postiga.

Messi scores,Arg win

Elsewhere,Lionel Messi scored his third goal in two games as Argentina beat Chile in an away match. Uruguay,the 2010 semi-finalists,lost 4-1 to Bolivia in La Paz. In Warsaw,England stumbled for the second time in World Cup qualifying on Wednesday,with Poland holding the dreary visitors to a 1-1 draw in a match delayed by a day due to a waterlogged pitch. Kamil Glik headed in Polands equaliser in the 70th minute after Wayne Rooney had put England ahead in the 31st minute. Agencies