Complete Schedule of Friendlies Before the World Cup

May 1st, 2010 | by: Ian Rose |

Here are the matches that the 32 World Cup teams will be using to tune their tactics and make the final squad decisions before the big show. Mexico is apparently from the “more is better” school of match scheduling. They are playing constantly throughout May and early June. Argentina, as far as published friendlies go, looks to be opting for training camp over match fitness, with only early home matches with Haiti and Canada. Giving themselves more time to soak up the coaching brilliance of Diego, no doubt.

If you’re going to be in any of the host countries for these dates, get yourself some pre-World Cup friendly tickets. It’s not quite a trip to the finals themselves, but it’s a lot cheaper and a much shorter trip. If there’s a red “Tickets” icon next to the match, click on that to reserve your seats!

Even with the best laid plans, things change, as the South Africa coaching staff (and anyone traveling to Europe last month) can tell you. As these dates get closer, we’ll update any cancellations or last-minute additions, and add the scores here, so check back to get a preview of who’s going into the World Cup on form, and who is stumbling before the party even starts.

All game times are local time zones.

Wednesday, May 5th:
Argentina 4-0 Haiti
Chile 2-0 Trinidad and Tobago

Friday, May 7th: Mexico 0-0 Ecuador

Monday, May 10th: Mexico 1-0 Senegal

Thursday, May 13th:
Mexico 1-0 Angola
Germany 3-0 Malta

Saturday, May 15th: Paraguay 1-0 North Korea

Sunday, May 16th:
Mexico 1-0 Chile
South Africa 4-0 Thailand
South Korea 2-0 Ecuador

Monday, May 24th:
Australia 2-1 New Zealand
Japan 0-2 South Korea
Portugal 0-0 Cape Verde Islands
Argentina 5-0 Canada
England 3-1 Mexico

Tuesday, May 25th:
Georgia 0-0 Cameroon
Greece 2-2 North Korea
Ireland 2-1 Paraguay
United States 2-4 Czech Republic

Wednesday, May 26th:
Uruguay 4-1 Israel
Chile 3-0 Zambia
Netherlands 2-1 Mexico
France 2-1 Costa Rica

Thursday, May 27th:
South Africa 2-1 Colombia
Belarus 2-2 Honduras
Denmark 2-0 Senegal

Friday, May 28th:
Ireland 3-0 Algeria

Saturday, May 29th:
USA 2-1 Turkey
Slovakia 1-1 Cameroon
Spain 3-2 Saudi Arabia
New Zealand 1-0 Serbia
Hungary 0-3 Germany

Sunday, May 30th:
Nigeria 1-1 Colombia
Chile 1-0 Northern Ireland
Chile 3-0 Israel (Chile team split in two to play simultaneous friendlies)
Japan 1-2 England
Tunisia 1-1 France
Belarus 1-0 South Korea
Mexico 5-1 Gambia
Paraguay 2-2 Ivory Coast

Monday, May 31st:
South Africa 5-0 Guatemala

Tuesday, June 1st:
Portugal 3-1 Cameroon
Australia 1-0 Denmark
Netherlands 4-1 Ghana
Switzerland 0-1 Costa Rica

Wednesday, June 2nd:
Azerbaijan 0-0 Honduras
Greece 0-2 Paraguay
Serbia 0-0 Poland
Zimbabwe 0-3 Brazil

Thursday, June 3rd:
Italy 1-2 Mexico
Germany 3-1 Bosnia-Herzegovina
Spain 1-0 South Korea

Friday, June 4th:
France 0-1 China
Ivory Coast 2-0 Japan
Slovenia 3-1 New Zealand

Saturday, June 5th:
Algeria 1-0 United Arab Emirates
Netherlands 6-1 Hungary
Romania 3-0 Honduras
Serbia 4-3 Cameroon
Slovakia 3-0 Costa Rica
South Africa 1-0 Denmark
Australia 1-3 United States
Ghana 1-0 Latvia
Switzerland 1-1 Italy

Sunday, June 6th:
Nigeria 3-1 North Korea

Monday, June 7th:
Tanzania 1-5 Brazil
Platinum All-Stars 0-3 England

Tuesday, June 8th:
Portugal v. Mozambique
Spain v. Poland

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Seth

Damn, Mexico is going to be all out of gas by the time the tournament starts.
Hello

What sources did you use to come up with this list?
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ian-Rose/603669376 Ian Rose

Hello – they’re taken from FIFA and a few other sources. Like I say at the top, I expect them to change a little, but we wanted to get a list out early so people could see the fixtures and we can make changes as they come.
Sairax

Maradona has said he really really doesn’t want to play the game against Canada. Waste of time, or we suck or whatever. So my hope is he fields a really weak team and we scrape out a very unlikely win (1-0 OG Heinze?). It will even better than our 0-0 against Brazil!
Jose

Wait, so is Brazil not playing any pre-tournament friendlies? Hard to believe…
http://corinthians.theoffside.com/ Hector

you missed Trinidad&Tobago vs. Chile may 5th.
http://corinthians.theoffside.com/ Hector

yup. Brazil is not going to play any friendlies before the tourney as of right now.

They are going to train in Curitiba and probably play some club sides or something. some regional sides, but aside from that…NADA.

then from there they train in South Africa IIRC.

Brazil had an offer to train and play in Zimbabwe. but they turned it down :(
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ian-Rose/603669376 Ian Rose

Hector – thanks, I’ve added Chile v. Trinidad and Tobago.
Jose

Hector, increible!
http://www.malawi.worldcupblog.org sscouser

Malawi vs. Brazil
http://malawi.worldcupblog.org/team-news/malawi-vs-brazil.html

Postponed.
http://inter.theoffside.com Johonna

How can there be friendlies in the first couple weeks of May when many European leagues are still in session?

Cripes, Inter has a stack of Argies that could get called up but no way they will be playing with their NT on May 5th – Inter has a cup final that day!
http://denmark.worldcupblog.org Cerberus

Morten Olsen is also currently in negotiation for an additional match for Denmark against South Africa around June 4th, but it hasn’t been finalized yet.
soccerroo

Johanna the early games may only have those players done with club or may just be home players. That is what Mexico has been doing is trying to use their local players and add in their internationals when avaliable.
Pseudinho

You missed the USA v Turkey match on Saturday, May 29th
Mike harris

I much prefer argentina’s strategy for world cup match preparation vs Mexico … We’ll see who takes it further.

Mike
Http://www.betlobby.com
cy

i believe the may 30 game is belarus vs south korea, not north.
http://Mexico Daniel

I agree, Mike, Mexico is going to play too many matches. Injuries and tiredness can be the result.
http://corinthians.theoffside.com/ Hector

Argentina squad was announced for it like 3 days ago, smh the Euro players won’t join till like…another 2 weeks when they are FIFA mandated to join their teams.

so don’t worry for now. heck even Velez, Estudiantes or Banfield let their players go.
http://corinthians.theoffside.com/ Hector

I meant won’t let their players go*

They’re all in the Libertadores May 5th.
http://corinthians.theoffside.com/ Hector

Sscouser. Brazil’s Selecao won’t really play Malawai. more like a retired team, or a team of old washed up players. doubt Kaka and the likes will be part of the team.

kinda like Brazil’s “select” team did against Kenya and Tanzania.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Ian-Rose/603669376 Ian Rose

Pseudinho – I added the US v. Turkey match – good catch. Nice to see a national team match in Philadelphia.
http://healthyohhealthy.blogspot.com healthy

Hmmmm… Go World Cup. I’m wait…
Icegaze

Nigeria will play Saudi Arabia on May 25, Colombia on May 30 and North Korea on June 4.
Hello

I know its a bit of a stretch but you wouldn’t happen to have kickoff times for these friendlies would you? Would like to catch some of these matches to warm up for the WC ourselves.
http://twitter.com/RabsWorld Rab Bakari

Ghana has a pretty decent warm-up schedule. Two European matches! Unlike Mexico's! All coach Rajevac has to do is cut 7. I'm sure that will happen on the morning of June 1st; the day the BlackStars meet the Oranje of The Netherlands. Muntari will join the team after he wraps up Inter Milan in the Champions league final. Ghana is training in France. Latvia will be their last before heading to camp outside of Pretoria. SA