The Tottenham striker Peter Crouch stepped up his claims for a World Cup starting spot with two goals as England came from behind to defeat Egypt 3-1 at Wembley.
Peter Crouch took his goal tally for his country to 20 in 37 games after replacing club-mate Jermaine Defoe at half-time when England trailed to Mohamed Zidan's opener. Shaun Wright-Phillips also hit the target as England recovered from a poor first-half performance to run out comfortable winners.
A goal from Gonzalo Higuain on the stroke of half-time earned Argentina a 1-0 win over a disappointing Germany in Munich. The Real Madrid striker pounced on the first of several errors by Germany goalkeeper Rene Adler, who failed to justify his nomination as the national team's new No.1.
Algeria's preparations for the World Cup suffered a setback after they were thrashed 3-0 in a home friendly against fellow finalists Serbia. The Desert Hawks, who are in the same group as England, United States and Slovenia for this summer's tournament in South Africa, struggled for large parts of the game against their European opponents.
They fell behind after 14 minutes thanks to a Marko Pantelic strike and never recovered. Zdravko Kuzmanovic (55) doubled the advantage in Algiers, before a sweeping counter-attack led to a third for Dusko Tosic (65) as Rabah Saadane's men slumped to defeat.
Italy coach Marcello Lippi's experimental line-up failed to deliver as the Azzurri were held to a 0-0 draw by Cameroon. Lippi used the friendly in Monte Carlo to try out some of his fringe players and despite his team dominating the encounter, they were unable to find the finishing touch.
Morten Moldskred's 67th-minute goal earned Norway a 1-0 win over World Cup-bound Slovakia. It was Norway's third straight victory after they also defeated World Cup hosts South Africa in October and Switzerland in November.
Dirk Kuyt and Klaas Jan Huntelaar grabbed the goals as Holland beat the United States 2-1 in Amsterdam. Kuyt opened the scoring from the spot five minutes before half-time after Wesley Sneijder was fouled and substitute Huntelaar made it two with a deflected strike in the 73rd minute.
There was something for the Americans to cheer as captain Carlos Bocanegra grabbed a late consolation goal, their first against Holland.
Goals either side of the interval handed Turkey a 2-0 win over Honduras. Emre Gungor scored from close range following a corner in the 41st minute. Ten minutes into the second half, midfielder Hamit Altintop beat goalkeeper Donis Escobar with a shot from outside the penalty area.
Slovenia routed Qatar 4-1 thanks to Bostjan Cesar, Milivoje Novakovic, Andraz Kirm, Bojan Jokic, while Yossi Benayoun and Elyaniv Barda earned Israel a creditable 2-0 win in Romania.
Greece's World Cup preparations suffered a set-back as Otto Rehhagel's team slumped to a disappointing 2-0 home defeat against Senegal. Marseille forward Mamadou Niang gave the African visitors the lead with a neat finish in the 71st minute and substitute Guirane Ndaw's stunning free-kick doubled the advantage with 10 minutes left.
Austria saw off Denmark 2-1 thanks to Roman Wallner's winner, Nicklas Bendtner's well-taken goal having earlier cancelled out Franz Schiemer's fierce drive.
Russia were held 1-1 in Hungary, while Croatia won 1-0 in Belgium thanks to a goal from Niko Kranjcar.
Elsewhere, Belarus won 3-1 in Armenia, FYR Macedonia, Georgia and Azerbaijan enjoyed 2-1 wins over Montenegro, Estonia and Luxembourg respectively, Finland came from behind to win by the same scoreline in Malta, Moldova beat Kazakhstan with a solitary goal and Cyprus and Iceland shared a 0-0 draw.
In other results, three African Nations Cup finalists Mozambique, Malawi and Mali were all surprisingly beaten. In Maputo, the hosts slipped to a 1-0 loss to fellow southern Africans, Botswana, Zimbabwe edged out the Flames 2-1 in Harare and the Eagles suffered the same scoreline against Libya in Tripoli.
Bosnia-Herzegovina enjoyed a 2-1 win over Ghana thanks to goals from Miralem Pjanic and Vedad Ibisevic, Sulley Muntari responding for the African side.
Uruguay came from behind to win 3-1 in Switzerland. Gokhan Inler's penalty put the hosts in front, but Diego Forlan levelled before Luis Suarez and Edinson Cavani struck to earn victory.
Scott Brown earned Scotland a 1-0 win over the Czech Republic in Craig Levein's first game as manager, but there was less positive news for Wales and Northern Ireland.
Bolton striker Johan Elmander earned Sweden a 1-0 win in a low-key clash in Swansea, while Ervin Skela's superb free-kick saw Albania beat Nigel Worthington's side, for whom defender Stephen Craigan twice hit the woodwork, by the same scoreline.
In Durban, World Cup hosts South Africa did little to convince their doubters that they can progress to the second round of the tournament with a meek 1-1 draw against minnows Namibia.
Rudolf Bester gave their neighbours a shock 42nd-minute lead, but Bafana Bafana finally managed an equaliser through Katlego Mphela after 70 minutes to give the home crowd something to cheer about.
Another of the World Cup-bound countries, Nigeria, were also in action and delivered an impressive result under the watchful eye of new coach Lars Lagerback when they thumped DR Congo 5-2 in Abuja.
Lee Dong-gook's fine volley set South Korea on their way to a 2-0 victory over managerless Ivory Coast
at Loftus Road.
