Football
ESPN staff 8y

Spain stunned in loss to Georgia as Greece beat Australia in friendlies

Spain saw their 11-game unbeaten streak end in a 1-0 loss to Georgia in a friendly in Getafe on Tuesday night.

In their final warm-up before Euro 2016, La Roja were undone by a Tornike Okriashvili goal in the 40th minute. Jaba Jigauri's pass across the face of goal got past David De Gea and Okriashvili had the simplest of finishes.

There was a scary moment shortly after half-time when Georgia goalkeeper Nukri Revishvili clashed heads with Spain's Sergio Busquets. Revishvili was bloodied and had to leave the game, but Busquets played on for another 20 minutes before being replaced by Pedro.

The loss was Spain's first since a 2-0 setback against Netherlands in a friendly on March 31, 2015.

Spain are ranked sixth in the world by FIFA, while Georgia are 137th and did not qualify for the Euros.

Ioannis Maniatis scored a stunning goal from well inside his own half as Greece beat Australia 2-1 in Melbourne. Maniatis' David Beckham-esque effort was the highlight of a fiery second friendly on Tuesday night at Etihad Stadium.

The Socceroos started with no intent and had barely made it out of their own half when Greece opened the scoring in the eighth minute. Mark Milligan lost possession cheaply and a quick counterattack put the ball at the feet of Petros Mantalos, who curled neatly over goalkeeper Adam Federici's head.

Federici, given a run in place of first-choice Mat Ryan, was beaten even more roundly soon later -- but none of the 33,622 spectators could have forseen what was coming.

Maniatis stole the ball just inside Australia's half and, seeing the goalkeeper well off his line, executed an exquisite lob that sailed over Federici's head and into the corner of the net.

Trent Sainsbury gave Australia hope just before the hour mark. Minutes after skying a close-range chance, the centre-back capitalised on Tim Cahill's deflected shot following a corner to head home. But there was to be no way back into the game for Australia.

Christian Eriksen scored a 10-minute hat trick as Denmark thrashed Bulgaria 4-0 in a game between two sides who failed to make it to Euro 2016, in the Kirin Cup at the Suita Stadium in Osaka, Japan.

The opener came in the 39th minute from Morten Rasmussen, who fired into the top of the net from a Viktor Fischer pass.

Erikssen got his first goal in the 72nd minute, before going on to complete his treble with goals in the 74th and 82nd.

Kirin Cup hosts Japan suffered a 2-1 defeat to Bosnia-Herzegovina despite having taken the lead. 

Hiroshi Kiyotake put the home side in front, converting from a Takashi Usami pass. But the advantage lasted just one minute before Milan Duric headed home the equaliser. 

The winner came shortly after the hour mark, with Duric again on target via a Miroslav Stevanovic assist.

Canada defated Uzbekistan 2-1 in Austria thanks to a late own goal.

David Edgar opened the scoring for Canada in the 20th minute with a header following a free kick, but Uzbekistan equalised with a low shot 10 minutes later.

It stayed level until Akramjon Komilov put a cross from Junior Hoilett into his own net in the 81st minute.

Kazakhstan beat China 1-0 thanks to a goal from Azat Nurgaliev, despite having Yeldos Akhmetov sent off with eight minutes remaining. 

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