More misery for Italy,this time on the pitch

Paradoxically it is better to have lost badly here, Italy coach Cesare Prandelli said. Like this we return with our feet on the ground. Its the third match in eight months,we have five to six days to work,to correct things. Well recover in time. Well put everything back to zero and start again.

Italy were looking for a morale-boosting victory,with the country embroiled in another match-fixing scandal which saw 14 people arrested on Monday and forced Prandelli to drop Domenico Criscito from his squad after the defender was officially placed under investigation following a dawn raid on the Italian training camp.

There were positives to take from the match as Italy looked dangerous in attack with the untried pairing of Antonio Cassano and Mario Balotelli,who were playing together for only the second time. The duo last played together for an hour in a three-pronged attack against the Ivory Coast in August 2010.

But Italy has now gone 300 minutes without scoring a goal. I know its hard to find something positive when you lose 3-0 but in the first half we handled the battle with a physical squad well,especially as theyre further ahead of us in their preparations, Prandelli said. We controlled the game in the first 12 minutes of the second half too,with a lot of chances. Then we were drained after the first goal.

Welback strikes

In London,England completed their preparations for Euro 2012 when a Danny Welbeck goal gave them a 1-0 win over Belgium in a friendly at Wembley on Saturday. Welbeck scored his first senior England goal after 36 minutes when he lifted the ball over goalkeeper Simon Mignolet after a delightful through pass from Ashley Young.

But England also had injury concerns over defender Gary Cahill who had to go off after clattering into his own goalkeeper Joe Hart when he was shoved in the back after 17 minutes by Dries Martens who was booked for the challenge. It was Englands second successive win under new coach Roy Hodgson ahead of their opening Group D game against France on June 11.

Poland too strong for Andorra

In Warsaw,co-hosts Poland wrapped up preparations for Euro 2012 with a 4-0 romp over Andorra,one of the weakest international teams,on Saturday. The Poles will lean heavily on their Borussia Dortmund trio striker Robert Lewandowski,captain Jakub Blaszczykowski and defender Lukasz Piszczek in the Euros and all three started against Andorra. Ludovic Obraniak opened the scoring in the 13th minute and Lewandowski made it 2-0 nine minutes before halftime.

Denmark 2,Australia 0

Denmark beat Australia 2-0 to finish their Euro 2012 preparations with a flourish in front of their home fans in Copenhagen on Saturday. After shaky displays in friendly defeats by Russia and Brazil,coach Morten Olsen will be pleased with his goalkeeper and defence for keeping a clean sheet while his centre backs even pitched in with the goals for good measure.

Liverpools Daniel Agger opened the scoring,converting a first-half penalty after being felled in the box while chasing Christian Eriksens sublime pass. Andreas Bjelland,Aggers partner at centre back,scored midway through the second half to put Denmark two up as the Australian defence failed to deal with a corner. Denmark open their group B campaign against Netherlands in Kharkiv on June 9,before facing Portugal and Germany in their bid to reach the knockout stages.

Austria beat Ukraine

Co-hosts Ukraine were beaten 3-2 by Austria in Innsbruck on Friday in their penultimate warmup friendly. The visitors were caught cold after three minutes when Zlatko Junuzovic curled an excellent free kick beyond the goalkeeper. Ukraine levelled after 56 minutes,Oleh Gusyev tapping the ball in from close range following a through ball from Andriy Yarmolenko. Marko Arnautovic restored Austrias lead six minutes later with a powerful effort low into the corner.