International Friendlies: Bosnia beat Ivory Coast, Iran draw Angola

2014 FIFA World Cup is just 12 days away today and the teams who already know their place in Brazil have begun firing up the international scene with goals and impressive plays.

From the early part of this week, the football world has witnessed the best of action from every football playing continent on the planet: African representatives have not made a bad showing at all, so also the other representatives form the other confederations.

African champions Nigeria played Scotland on Wednesday night in a match that was preluded by controversy and concluded with a 2-2 goal line; the Nigerian game was the last on English soil for the 30 Man list of the Stephen Keshi-led squad after which the team moved to Philadelphia for their next two friendlies against the United States Of America and the Hellenic nation of Greece.

Two Nordic brothers Denmark and Sweden played against each other in what would have been a repeat of an Euro 2004 game between the two nations which ended 2 all, but in the friendly played at the Parken Stadion in Copenhagen, the Danish team beat Sweden 1-0.

On Thursday May 29, another African representative at the World Cup, The Indomitable Lions of Cameroun did not also do bad even though they lost 1-2 to Paraguay. In other games, Lithuania beat Finland 1-0, Latvia beat  Estonia 4-2 while Saudi Arabia and Honduras lost on 2 goal differences to their opponents Georgia and Turkey respectively.

On Friday May 30, The Elephants of Ivory Coast lost 2-0 to Nigeria's Group F opponent Bosnia-Herzegovina, Angola drew Iran 1-1; another opponent in Group F. World Champions Spain proved why they should be feared as top contenders to retain the trophy they won in South Africa four years ago when they beat Bolivia 2-0; Torres and Iniesta were the scorers in that match.

In other games, Chile beat Egypt 3-2, Uruguay 1-0 Northern Ireland, Switzerland 1-0 Jamaica, Austria 1-1 Iceland and Qatar played a goalless draw with Macedonia. The match that had the most goals on one side without a reply from the opposing side was England against Peru, goals from Daniel Sturidge, Gary Cahill and Phil Jagielka ensured England bid the English Isle bye bye on a good note just before departing for the World Cup.

Players are being tested to ascertain their level of preparedness for the World Cup and each day that the World Cup draws near, the teams will be firing up their preparations.

This Saturday, 11 teams participating in the World Cup will be testing the players who have or will make the final list to Brazil: Saturday features the penultimate games before teams submit their final squads to FIFA before the June 2 deadline.

Although Most teams already have their 23 Man list, many prefer to wait till the deadline. Some of these teams will make a final announcement a day early, after today games. In the games today,  Netherlands play Ghana, Portugal meet Euro 2004 show spoilers and champions Greece; while in Texas, it will be Mexico trading tackles with Ecuador.

In some of the Saturday games played earlier, Norway drew Russia 1-1, Algeria beat Armenia 3-1, Croatia defeated Mali 2-0 with a brace from Ivan Perisic while Finland beat Estonia 2-0.

The games involving Netherlands vs. Ghana, Portugal vs. Greece, Italy vs. Republic of Ireland, Mexico vs. Ecuador, Panama vs Serbia,Colombia vs. Senegal come on later in the day.