World Cup greats Argentina, Brazil, Germany win friendlies days before kick-off

NEW YORK, June 6 : Multi-champions Brazil, Argentina and Germany all won their preparatory games for the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Saturday, although by small margins, with former champion England and hopeful Portugal also securing victories.

The busy day of friendlies saw some of the biggest stars on display, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Vini Jr and Mohamed Salah playing, but three-time champion Argentina opted to rest Lionel Messi against Honduras in Texas in a game where forward Lautaro Martinez shone with a goal and one assist for a 2-0 win. Simeone scored the second for Argentina.

Five-times champion Brazil beat Egypt 2-1 in Cleveland with Newcastle midfielder Bruno Guimaraes scoring early from inside the box and Lyon forward Endrick adding in the second half after an assist from Barcelona's Raphinha. Zico scored for Egypt, while Salah played the first half and seemed to be in good form.

There was some drama with Brazil and AS Roma right back Wesley leaving the field in tears after what appeared to be a serious muscle injury in the left leg, which might take him out of the World Cup. Teams can change players up to one day before their first games.

Harry Kane's first-half header earned England a 1-0 win over New Zealand in Tampa, while there were also victories for Scotland and Belgium as teams fine-tune ahead of the tournament's kickoff next week.

With England manager Thomas Tuchel rotating his entire team at halftime and handing minutes to 22 players in the scorching 32-degree Celsius (90-degree Fahrenheit) heat, the result was secondary to the process.

But Kane's clinical finish with a glancing header into the bottom corner from Djed Spence's cross offered a timely reminder of the skipper's importance to their hopes to win a