Tetchy Brazil were upset 1-0 in Switzerland while Argentina beat Italy 2-1 even without Lionel Messi on a mostly successful night for South American teams in friendlies ahead of next month’s World Cup qualifiers.
Paraguay, bottom of their qualifying group and with almost no hope of reaching a fifth World Cup finals in a row, managed a shock 3-3 draw away to an unusually sloppy Germany side on coach Victor Genes’s debut.
A largely experimental Spain team earned a 2-0 away win over Ecuador to keep the European flag flying in the steamy Pacific port city of Guayaquil with goals from Alvaro Negredo and Santi Cazorla for the world champions.
England, by no means sure of a direct berth into the World Cup finals, fought back twice for a 3-2 win over Scotland at Wembley in an enthralling first clash between the bitter rivals since 1999.
In the night’s only World Cup qualifier, Russia blew a chance to overtake Portugal at the top of European Group F when they were upset 1-0 by Northern Ireland in Belfast, Martin Paterson scoring the only goal two minutes before halftime.
The 2014 World Cup hosts Brazil, fresh from their Confederations Cup triumph, were disappointing in Berne where they failed to recover from a Dani Alves own goal just after the interval.
Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari argued that his team were less prepared than the Swiss for an international date at the end of the mid-year off-season.
Argentina, missing captain Messi due to muscle fatigue, won their first meeting with Italy for 12 years with striker Gonzalo Higuain, a fine successor to Gabriel Batistuta, opening their account with his 21st goal in 34 internationals.
Substitute midfielder Ever Banega added the second before Lorenzo Insigne pulled one back in the match in Rome in honour of Argentine-born Pope Francis and preceded on Monday by the visit of both teams to the Vatican.
‘When Leo’s there we have extra potential up front but we were able to play and win without him,’ midfielder Angel Di Maria told reporters referring to Messi.
‘When a team is used to playing with Messi, you can see the difference when he is not there,’ admitted Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella. ‘Messi is irreplaceable (but) the character and desire we showed really pleased me.’
Germany were 15 minutes away from a shock defeat, having ended the first half 3-2 down to Paraguay, but substitute Lars Bender came to their rescue with a 75th-minute equaliser.
A leveller from Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi’s regular rival for FIFA’s World Player of the Year award, salvaged a 1-1 draw for Portugal at home to the Netherlands in the Algarve while Belgium and France were deadlocked in a 0-0 draw in Brussels.
Another of the world’s leading strikers, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, got a hat-trick as Sweden beat neighbours Norway 4-2 in Stockholm.
He was, though, pipped for goal of the night by veteran Anders Svensson who hammered home a twisting, dipping shot for their fourth in his 142nd international.
US forward Jozy Altidore also scored three goals as Jurgen Klinsmann’s side came back from two goals down to beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 4-3 in Sarajevo.
England striker Rickie Lambert only scored once but it was a dream international debut for the substitute at the age of 31 as he scored the winner against Scotland with his first touch by heading home a corner seconds after coming on.
‘I’ve been dreaming of that all my life, it means so much,’ said an elated Lambert.
Montenegro, who lead European Group H by two points ahead of England having played a game more, were held 1-1 by Belarus in Zhodino.
Colombia beat Serbia 1-0 in Barcelona with a late goal from midfielder Fredy Guarin while Uruguay and Chile, direct rivals for places at the 2014 finals, enjoyed high-scoring victories.
Chile crushed hapless Iraq 6-0 in Denmark with Alexis Sanchez in fine form, scoring twice and laying on two goals for winger Jean Beausejour.

RESULTS
Sweden 4 (Ibrahimovic 2, 29, 58, Svensson 75) Norway 2 (Abdellaoue 38-pen, Johanson 43); Luxembourg 2 (Joachim 49, Bensi 80) Lithuania 1 (Matulevicius 15); Colombia 1 (Guarin 89) Serbia 0; Turkey 2 (Yilmaz 7, Bulut 28) Ghana 2 (Gyan 61, 75); Ukraine 2 (Rotan 28, Seleznyov 71) Israel 0; Romania 1 (Stancu 43) Slovakia 1 (Sestak 55); Liechtenstein 2 (Christen 31, Polverino 7) Croatia 3 (Eduardo 21, 86, Rebic 67); Hungary 1 (Dzsudzsak 57-pen) Czech Republic 1 (Kozak 23); Austria 0 Greece 2 (Mitroglou 39, 67); Germany 3 (Gundogan 18, Muller 31, Bender 75) Paraguay 3 (Nunez 9, Pittoni 13, Samudio 45); Italy 1 (Insigne 76) Argentina 2 (Higuain 20, Banega 49); Switzerland 1 (Alves 48-og) Brazil 0; Bosnia & Herzegovina 3 (Dzeko 8, 90, Ibisevic 29) United States 4 (Johnson 55, Altidore 60, 84, 86); England 3 (Walcott 29, Welbeck 54, Lambert 71) Scotland 2 (Morrison 11, Miller 50); Belgium 0 France 0; Wales 0 Republic of Ireland 0; Poland 3 (Klich 4, Sobota 57, Zielinski 60) Denmark 2 (Eriksen 18, Braithwaite 45); Portugal 1 (Ronaldo 86) Netherlands 1 (Strootman 17); Ecuador 0
Spain 2 (Negredo 25, Cazorla 63).