Euro 2012 Friendly Round-Up: England and Holland Register Wins, Portugal Lose

Danny Welbeck's first goal for England sent Roy Hodgson's squad to the summer's European Championships with two wins in two games - they beat Norway, in their first warm-up game, 1-0. However, a similarly narrow one-goal win against a reasonably strong Belgium side, at Wembley that too, has done little to ease fears of the country under-achieving at a major tournament, yet again.

The Manchester United forward scored the only goal of the match, before the break, in a game largely dominated by the visitors. The Belgians lost captain Vincent Kompany to a strain in the warm-up but otherwise were at full strength and enjoyed large spells of possession early on. However, they were restricted to shooting from distance as the English defence held its own.

Meanwhile, in Amsterdam, Arsenal captain Robin van Persie and Barcelona midfielder Ibrahim Afellay both netted braces as Holland thrashed Northern Ireland 6-0. Bert van Marwijk's team dominated the match from start to finish, enjoying over 70 percent of possession and denying their opponents a single shot on target.

The Gunners' lead striker, van Persie, opened the scoring in the 11th minute with a header before playmaker Wesley Sneijder doubled the lead, four minutes later, with a free kick. The Oranje were four goals ahead by half time as van Persie converted a penalty and then set Afellay up for his first of the match. The Arsenal skipper turned provider yet again for Afellay six minutes into the second half before defender Ron Vlaar headed in Afellay's corner for the team's sixth goal, with eight minutes to go.

Holland begin their Euro 2012 campaign on 9 June against Denmark in Group B. The Danes, meanwhile, made light work of the challenge from Australia, beating them 2-0. Liverpool centre-back Daniel Agger converted a penalty in the 31st minute and fellow defender Andreas Bjelland scored the second from a corner in the 66th.

However, Portugal, who with Germany, Denmark and the Dutch, will make up Group B, made it three matches without a win as they slumped to a 3-1 home defeat by Turkey and were jeered off the pitch. Portugal were almost as dominant as Denmark and Holland in terms of possession but some poor finishing let them down, with even the normally prolific Cristiano Ronaldo missing a penalty. United winger Nani scored the only goal for the home team, while a brace from striker Umut Bulut and an own goal by Pepe gave the Turks a morale-boosting victory.

Results:

England 1 (Welbeck) beat Belgium 0

Holland 6 (van Persie [2], Afellay [2], Sneijder, Vlaar) beat Northern Ireland 0

Portugal 1 (Nani) lost to Turkey 3 (Bulut [2], Pepe [OG])

Denmark 2 (Agger, Bjelland) beat Australia 0

Norway 1 (Elyounoussi) drew with Croatia 1 (Eduardo)

Poland 4 (Obraniak, Lewandowski, Blaszczykowski, Wasilewski) beat Andorra 0