Norway stun Germany

London, February 12:

Lionel Messi helped Argentina to a 2-0 friendly victory over France on Wednesday and Germany lost to Norway for the first time in 73 years when they were beaten 1-0.

Fit-again striker Eduardo da Silva gave Croatia a timely boost by setting up the winning goal in a 2-1 victory over Romania, but the Netherlands were held to a 1-1 draw by Tunisia.

Jonas Gutierrez had already put Argentina ahead in Marseille when Messi collected the ball outside the penalty area in the 83rd, got through the home defense and beat goalkeeper Steve Mandanda with a shot inside his right post. The result gave Diego Maradona his second win as Argentina coach.

The only previous time Norway had beaten Germany was at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, but Christian Grindheim scored in the 63rd minute with a close-range shot.