Italy Stutter Against Luxembourg; England held

PERUGIA, Italy: Italy was held to a 1-1 draw by Luxembourg on Wednesday in its final World Cup warm-up match before leaving for Brazil, with forward Mario Balotelli looking in impressive form.
Claudio Marchisio headed Italy in front in the ninth minute after a splendid assist from Balotelli but Maxime Chanot levelled five minutes from time.
It was Italy’s seventh successive match without a win, although the six draws and a defeat to Spain have all happened after securing qualification for the World Cup.
Prandelli had said Balotelli would amaze with his improved form and the AC Milan forward was involved in most of the Azzurri’s best moves.
He went close to scoring on several occasions and hit the crossbar as Italy dominated.
Italy departs on Thursday and will play Brazilian club Fluminense in a final friendly match on June 8, six days before kicking off its World Cup campaign against England in Manaus.
Prandelli’s side also faces Costa Rica and Uruguay in Group D.
It was a day of stalemates with four games, including Italy’s one, ending without a winner.
Greece and Nigeria played to a goalless draw at PPL Park in Pennsylvania, while Ecuador versus England and Jamaica versus Egypt ended 2-2.
Egypt took a fifth minute lead through Mohamed El Nenny, but found themselves trailing 2-1 at half time after goals from Jamaica’s Simon Dawkins and Joel Grant.
Bassin Mursi equalized in the 72nd minute to earn Egypt the draw.
England went behind early on in their game against Ecuador thanks to an eighth minute goal from Enner Valencia, but goals from Wayne Rooney and Rickie Lambert handed them the lead before Michael Arroyo scored the last goal of the match.
A single goal from Izet Hajrovic handed Bosnia and Herzegovina a 1-0 win over Mexico at Soldier Field in Chicago.
Hungary also won by a single goal courtesy of a Tamas Priskin strike as they beat Albania at the Puskás Ferenc Stadion in Budapest.
Algeria did Africa proud when goals from Nabil Bentaleb and El Arbi Soudani handed them a 2-1 win over Romania at the Stade de Genève in Carouge.
The final game of the night saw Netherlands cruise to a comfortable 2-0 win over Wales at the Amsterdam Arena.