Lionel Messi held his nerve from the penalty spot as Argentina came from behind to beat an experimental Croatia side 2-1 in their friendly at Upton Park on Wednesday night.
The home of West Ham saw the end of Carlos Tevez’s international exile, but the former Hammers favourite had to wait until after the hour mark to grace the east London stage once again.
Until then coach Gerardo Martino still had the likes of captain and star attraction Messi to call upon but it was a first international goal for Rijeka’s Anas Sharbini that gave Croatia a half-time lead.
Atletico Madrid full-back Christian Ansaldi also notched his maiden international strike to level matters after the break, before Messi put Argentina in front from the penalty spot – with his 45th international goal sealing the win.
The equaliser came early into the second half as Ansaldi drifted inside having been picked out superbly by Messi and his shot, which deflected off Aguero’s arm, beat Kalinic all ends up.
And Martino’s side were ahead shortly afterwards as Kalinic was adjudged to have brought down Aguero in the box.
Barcelona forward Messi stepped up to convert the penalty.
Tevez replaced Aguero on 62 minutes with Upton Park at its loudest point of the evening as their 2007 Premier League saviour made his return.
Neymar scored twice as Brazil defeated Turkey 4-0 for head coach Dunga to celebrate a fifth successive win since taking the hotseat following his country’s traumatic World Cup.
Neymar opened the scoring when he picked up a cross from Fernandinho before dribbling the ball into the area and stabbing it past a static Suleyman Demirel in the Turkish goal.
Five minutes later it was 2-0 when defender Suat Kaya put through his own goal under pressure from debutant Luiz Adriano who was trying to reach a cross from Danilo.
But Brazil were soon back in the ascendancy when Willian steered in the third just before the interval after a Neymar cross was not cleared.
After the break, David Luiz had a firm header saved spectacularly by substitute goalkeeper Volkan Babacan before Neymar added his second goal and Brazil’s fourth on the hour mark.
The Barcelona forward played a neat one-two with Willian before waltzing past a disinterested Turkish defence to score.
Mexico forward Carlos Vela scored twice on his return to the national side as Guus Hiddink’s poor run as Netherlands manager continued.
Hiddink has lost four of the five internationals he has been in charge of since replacing Louis van Gaal after the World Cup.
Vela, who has been in international exile for the last three years, opened the scoring in Amsterdam on eight minutes with a stunning strike from outside the penalty area.
Wesley Sneijder pulled one back for the Netherlands with an audacious strike, but Mexico then scored twice inside seven minutes through Vela and Javier Hernandez.
The Netherlands refused to buckle and a Daley Blind goal 15 minutes before the end took some gloss off Mexico’s win.
Elsewhere, Divock Origi let fly with a 25-yard drive as Belgium defeated Iceland in Brussels.
Defender Nicolas Lombaerts and Romelu Lukaku registered the other goals as Belgium ran out 3-1 winners.
