MEXICO CITY — Mexico defeated Israel 3-0 in a World Cup warm-up game Wednesday that doubled as a farewell for iconic forward Cuauhtemoc Blanco, who brought his backheel magic one last time. The nearly packed 105,000-capacity Azteca Stadium in Mexico City erupted in cheers every time Blanco, 41, touched the ball during his 38 minutes on the pitch. Wearing the captain's armband, the No. 10 showed flashes of his younger days, making three backheel passes, nearly setting up a goal and taking a free kick that sailed too high. Mexico manager Miguel Herrera had originally planned to let Blanco play 20 minutes. But he gave fans more time with their hero before replacing him with young striker Raul Jimenez. Blanco, who scored 39 goals for Mexico, including three in three World Cups, was given a standing ovation at half-time as he took a victory lap. Defying his age, the playmaker who once played for Mexico's Club America and Spain's Valladolid recently signed with Mexican first division team Puebla. Two of Mexico's goals were courtesy of wingback Miguel Layun, with some help from Israeli goalkeeper Ariel Harush, who failed to punch out the first one and saw the ball float into the net after touching the ball on the second one. Marco Fabian made it 3-0 with a shot at the edge of the penalty area in the 85th minute. But the party atmosphere was marred in the second half when Mexico goalkeeper Jose de Jesus Corona was carried out on a stretcher and replaced after the leg of one of his defenders accidentally hit him in the back of the head. It was Mexico's last game at home before embarking on a US tour for friendlies against Ecuador, Bosnia and Portugal. Nigeria, Scotland draw A 90th minute strike from Uche Nwofor allowed Nigeria to draw 2-2 with Scotland in a friendly international match in London Wednesday. In the match at Fulham's home ground that had been the subject of allegations of attempted match-fixing, Scotland took the lead in the 9th minute after a shot from midfielder James Morrison was flicked over the Nigeria goalkeeper Austin Ejide by defender Charlie McGrew. Nigeria equalized in the 41st minute, when a shot from forward Michael Uchebo took a big deflection off defender Grant Hanley. Scotland reclaimed the lead in 52nd minute after defender Azubuike Egwuekwe put past his own goalkeeper from close range following Alan Hutton's cross into the penalty area. Nwofor equalized with the last meaningful piece of action in an exciting match. Denmark edges Liverpool defender Daniel Agger scored in second-half stoppage time to give Denmark a 1-0 win over Sweden Wednesday. Denmark dominated in the first half with Christian Eriksen, Martin Braithwaite and Michael Krohn-Dehli all denied in the opening period. The visitors' first shot came in the 41st minute when Leicester City keeper Kasper Schmeichel dived to stop midfielder Kim Kallstrom's strike. Zlatan Ibrahimovic played the opening 45 minutes but was benched after the interval. The second half saw Kallstrom and Panathinaikos striker Marcus Berg test Schmeichel but neither managed to find a breakthrough. Wednesday's friendly was the 102 time the Scandinavians have faced each other in 101 years. Sweden plays another friendly Sunday against World Cup-bound Belgium who will travel to Brazil for the 32-country tournament. In another friendly Angola downed Morocco 2-0. — Agencies
