كتب : Amro Hassan
The Spaniards started the game slow only to go down 1-0 to Croatia in the 14th minute when defender Pablo Ibanez converted a harmless cross from Niko Kranjcar into the back of his own net.
Argentine-born defender Mariano Pernia, who was called to the team to fill in for the injured Asier Del Horno, grabbed the equalizer for Spain just after the hour-mark from a deflected free kick.
Spain wasted an excellent chance to gain the lead in the 75th minute after substitute Fernando Torres sent a spot-kick straight into the hands of Croatia keeper Stipe Pletikosa.
Torres went on to make up for his earlier blunder after storming past two Croatian defenders and slotting the ball past Pletikosa deep into injury time to hand Spain their 13th win in 22 games.
Elsewhere, France striker Djibril Cisse’s hopes of playing in the World Cup suffered a devastating blow after fracturing his knee in the 12th minute of his team’s 3-1 victory over China.
France skipper Zinedine Zidane missed a penalty in the 14th minute before Cisse’s substitute David Trezeguet put them in the lead in the 30th minute.
Zhi Zheng drew for China in the 69th minute from a spot-kick and France had to wait until the 89th minute to regain the lead thanks to a Yun Wang own goal, before Thierry Henry secured his side’s winning route with a third goal in injury time.
In other matches, Australia scored twice in the last 15 minutes to beat Liechtenstein in the friendly played in Germany.
Mike Sterjovski scored for Australia in the 20th minute to cancel out Lucas Neill’s early own goal, and in the second half, substitute Joshua Kennedy headed Australia’s second before John Aloisi wrapped up the Aussi win with a rebound in the 82nd minute.