A late goal rush helped Germany beat Brazil for the first time in 18 years while world champion Spain suffered a rare defeat on a bumper night of international friendlies Wednesday. Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mario Goetze and Andre Schuerrle all struck in the last half hour for Germany in a 3-2 home win over the 2014 World Cup hosts who replied through Robinho and Neymar. In a clash of the last two World Cup winners in Bari, Spain was beaten 2-1 by Italy with Alberto Aquilani scoring the winner late on with a deflected shot. Spain's Chelsea striker Fernando Torres had to go off in the first half with concussion and was taken to hospital for a check-up while Gerard Pique was another casualty when the Barcelona defender limped off just before halftime. Many of the nations scrapping for qualification places for next year's European championships in Poland and Ukraine were in action as they prepared for forthcoming group matches. France was held to a 1-1 draw by Chile in Montpellier. Loic Remy was on target for France with Nicolas Cordova equalizing for the South Americans. Poland, which did not have to worry about qualifying for next year's tournament, earned a narrow 1-0 victory over Georgia in Lubin while co-host Ukraine went down 1-0 at home to Sweden. Croatia drew 0-0 away to Ireland; Russia enjoyed a 1-0 victory over Serbia. Substitute Pavel Pogrebnyak sealed victory in the 53rd minute. In other matches Australia beat Wales 2-1 and Japan crushed South Korea 3-0 while in Geneva Ivory Coast beat Israel 4-3 with Didier Drogba scoring his side's fourth from the penalty spot to move to within two of a landmark 50 international goals. Jurgen Klinsmann praised an encouraging performance from his US team after his first match in charge ended in a 1-1 draw against Mexico also Wednesday. Three-time World Cup winner Germany had not met five-time world champion Brazil since the Confederations Cup in 2005 and had not beaten it since 1993. Brazil was the better side for the first hour in Suttgart but fell behind to a hotly-disputed penalty which Schweinsteiger converted. Teenager Goetze made it 2-0 six minutes later before Robinho halved the deficit with another penalty. Schuerrle made it 3-1 before Neymar struck in stoppage time.
