Football
Associated Press 8y

Spain thrash South Korea through Nolito, Alvaro Morata; Belgium held

Nolito and Alvaro Morata each scored twice as Spain routed South Korea 6-1 in a warmup game on Wednesday ahead of the European Championship.

David Silva and Cesc Fabregas also found the net and the defending champions had two more goals disallowed for offside as they showed remarkable efficiency in attack after being held 0-0 for the opening half hour.

Nolito has now scored four times in eight matches for Spain, while Morata repaid the faith of coach Vicente del Bosque, who overlooked Chelsea forward Diego Costa for his Euro 2016 squad in favour of the Juventus striker.

The game was played in Austria, where both teams are holding a training camp.

Spain play Georgia in Getafe on Tuesday in their final friendly before traveling to the tournament in France, where they are in Group D with Czech Republic, Turkey and Croatia.

Romelu Lukaku scored two minutes from time to give a dominating Belgium only a 1-1 draw against Finland.

After relentless attacking to avoid a humiliating home defeat, Dries Mertens sent a in a cross that finally fooled standout goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky, who could palm the ball only onto the chest of Lukaku right on the line.

Earlier, sloppy defending by Thomas Vermaelen and Axel Witsel in the 53rd minute allowed Kasper Hamalainen to sneak through the centre to latch on to a cross and easily beat goalkeeper Thibault Courtois.

Belgium, one of the favourites for Euro 2016, open their campaign in Group E against Italy on June 13.

Vincent Janssen and Georginio Wijnaldum put a dent in Poland's Euro preparations as Netherlands earned a 2-1 win in Gdansk.

Janssen's header had given the visitors the lead after 33 minutes before Artur Jedrzejczyk ensured Poland were back on level terms in the second-half.

But a late strike from Newcastle midfielder Wijnaldum handed the Poles their first defeat in eight games.

Netherlands failed to qualify for this summer's tournament for the first time since 1984.

Striker Tomas Necid set up one goal before scoring a last-minute winner as Czech Republic came from behind to beat Russia 2-1.

The Bursaspor forward met a low cross from the left by Ladislav Krejci to beat Russia goalkeeper Guilherme Alvim Marinato from close range and hand victory to the Czechs.

Russia play Serbia on Sunday in their last warmup game before taking on England in Group B at Euro 2016 on June 11.

Czech Republic have a friendly against South Korea remaining on Sunday before opening the tournament against defending champions Spain on June 13 in Group D.

Iceland slumped to a 3-2 defeat to Norway.

Stefan Johansen scored with a first-minute volley as Norway, who didn't qualify for Euro 2016, dominated their opponents. Sverrir Ingi Ingason levelled for Iceland in the 36th minute, before Pal Andre Helland scored Norway's second with a free kick in the 41st.

Alexander Sorloth made it 3-1 in the 67th and Gylfi Sigurdsson converted a penalty for Iceland in the 81st minute.

Iceland open their Euro campaign against Portugal on June 14, and also face Austria and Hungary in Group F.

Dmitri Kruglov and Frank Liivak scored to give Estonia a 2-0 defeat of Andorra.

Andorra's Josep Ayala was given a red card in the 86th minute.

Latvia edged Lithuania 2-1 thanks to goals from Arturs Zjuznis and Artjoms Rudnevs. Fedor Chernykh scored a late consolation strike for the visitors.

Press Association and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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