World Cup Warm-Up: Friendly Round-Up and What to Watch

There's only so much you can read into friendlies, and nearly all teams have been making multiple in game changes. But this close to the tournament they're definitely worth a scan to see if we can spot any pre-tournament hints.

Brazil 6-2 Panama

Goals galore, and the stats showed Panama carrying genuine attacking threat despite the scoreline. Manchester United's Matheus Cunha started as the number nine and got on the scoresheet — unfortunately at the wrong end. Brentford's Igor Thiago came on in the half-time reshuffle and, interestingly, took and converted a penalty. Keep an eye on Brazil's upcoming friendly against Egypt for any sign that Thiago can make a late push for the starting shirt.

Switzerland 4-1 Jordan

Switzerland are in a weak group, so Breel Embolo is worth a look for golden boot value. Encouragingly he took a penalty here, though Xhaka stepped up for the second, so it is hard to know what to read into that. One to note: Embolo is currently dealing with visa issues, so getting into the country is not yet a given. Jordan were thoroughly outclassed, which will be welcome news for Group J's other teams.

Germany 4-0 Finland

Kai Havertz was rested after the Champions League final the previous day, which handed a start to Deniz Undav, Stuttgart's 29-year-old who has had a fine season. He took full advantage — two goals and an assist. Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala both got in on the act too. Germany look sharp.

USA 3-2 Senegal

A confidence-boosting win for the co-hosts, and they were good value for it against one of Africa's stronger nations. Pulisic got on the scoresheet for the USA, while the evergreen Sadio Mane grabbed both of Senegal's goals.

Norway 3-1 Sweden

Norway are quietly becoming the tournament dark horse of choice, taking over the mantle from Turkey in recent years. Alexander Isak scored a beauty for Sweden but the hosts had too much. What makes this result particularly notable is that Norway managed it without Martin Odegaard, who was otherwise engaged at the Champions League final, and with Erling Haaland given an extended rest. A real statement. For fantasy football purposes, Dortmund's Julian Ryerson continued his impressive assisting form with two here.

Croatia 0-2 Belgium

Aston Villa's Youri Tielemans captained the side and scored, Romelu Lukaku came off the bench to add a late second, and Maxim De Cuyper — quietly impressive for Brighton this season — assisted. With Jeremy Doku and a fit-again Kevin De Bruyne also in the ranks, have we all been a bit hasty in writing Belgium off? They have a habit of underdelivering when expectations are high. They might prefer going into this one under the radar.

Haiti 4-0 New Zealand

I will be honest: I know very little about this fixture beyond the result, and not much more about either team beyond Chris Wood. The underlying stats suggest the scoreline flattered Haiti somewhat, but it still has to raise concerns in Group C, where Scotland and Morocco were presumably banking on Haiti being the group's soft touch. New Zealand are in Group G — Belgium, Egypt and Iran will be smelling blood.

Spain 1-1 Iraq

Most of the friendlies this week involved heavy rotation, and this was no different, with only one of the 22 starters playing the full match, so too much should not be read into it. That said, the tournament favourites failing to beat Iraq in their send-off fixture at Riazor will raise a few eyebrows. It also adds further intrigue to Group I, already a fascinating group with France, Norway and Senegal involved. Iraq may not be there just to make up the numbers.

France 1-2 Ivory Coast

More underwhelming form from a tournament favourite. Both sides rotated heavily, which is fair enough. What is harder to forgive is Didier Deschamps keeping Desire Doue on the bench for the full ninety, robbing us of a rare occasion where two brothers face each other in an international fixture. Guela Doue scored and assisted for Ivory Coast. His brother, who had featured for PSG in the Champions League final five days earlier, watched on unused. For the record: the Boateng brothers faced each other for Ghana and Germany in 2010 and 2014, the Xhaka brothers appeared for Switzerland and Albania in 2016, and the Williams brothers are still yet to face each other. As are the Doues, apparently.

Upcoming Friendlies to Monitor

• Haiti v Peru — can Haiti's 4-0 over New Zealand be backed up?
• USA v Germany — a proper test for the hosts.
• Brazil v Egypt — can Thiago make his case for the number nine shirt?
• Morocco v Norway — two of the tournament's most talked-about dark horses go head to head.