31 May 2013

England draw football friendly with Ireland

12:25 pm on 31 May 2013

England and the Republic of Ireland have drawn 1-1 at Wembley in a football friendly, their first meeting in 18 years.

Shane Long opened the scoring for the visitors and Frank Lampard replied for England.

England travel to Rio de Janeiro later this week, ahead of a glamour friendly with 2014 World Cup hosts Brazil that will mark the re-opening of the iconic Maracana stadium.

Elsewhere Lukas Podolski scored one of the fastest goals in international football when a largely second-string Germany beat Ecuador 4-2 in Florida.

The Arsenal striker netted after only nine seconds as the Germans once again showed their impressive strength in depth.