England missed a penalty and needed two own goals to beat Japan 2-1 in World Cup warmup action Sunday while the Ivory Coast surrendered a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw with Paraguay. Japan's Marcus Tanaka scored a goal for each team and Yuji Nakazawa deflected a cross past his own keeper, who earlier saved Frank Lampard's penalty. Although Chelsea star Didier Drogba scored the first of two Ivory Coast goals, Aureliano Torres equalized with a minute to go to complete Paraguay's fightback. In other games involving World Cup sides, Mexico outplayed non-qualifier Gambia 5-1 with two goals each by Javier Hernandez and Adolfo Bautista, but South Korea was beaten 1-0 by Belarus. In late games, 1998 World Cup winner France drew with Tunisia 1-1 and Nigeria was held by Colombia 1-1. Chile, meanwhile, beat Northern Ireland 1-0 in its penultimate warmup match. Striker Esteban Paredes scored the only goal of the match with a header at the back post from a corner after 30 minutes. After Tanaka had exposed some poor England set-piece defending to give Japan a seventh-minute lead, it got worse for Fabio Capello's team when Lampard had a penalty blocked by goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima. But Tanaka headed a cross by Joe Cole into his own net in the 72nd minute and Nakazawa deflected a cross by Ashley Cole past his goalkeeper in the 83rd. Like many of the warmup matches, the game was played at altitude in the Austrian city of Graz so that the two teams could get used to playing in the conditions they will encounter next month in South Africa when the competitions kicks off June 11. France needed a second-half goal by William Gallas to salvage a 1-1 draw in Tunisia in their penultimate World Cup warmup. Center-back Gallas, who had been a doubful starter for the World Cup because of a sore calf muscle, reassured coach Raymond Domenech by heading home a Yoann Gourcuff free kick on 63 minutes to save the former world and European champion from defeat. Tunisia fought bravely, opening the scoring on five minutes through forward Issam Jemaa, but France, still needing time to adapt to the new, 4-3-3 system it had introduced in a 2-1 win over Costa Rica Wednesday, improved gradually. Paraguay hit back from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Ivory Coast in the French town of Thonon-les-Bains. After Drogba and Souleymane Bamba had fired the Ivorians 2-0 ahead by the 73rd minute, Lucas Barrios replied in the 75th and Torres equalized in the 89th. Hernandez, who is headed for Manchester United, and Bautista scored two goals each in Mexico's victory over non-qualifier Gambia at Bayreuth, Germany. Alberto Medina added the fifth for Mexico, which opens the World Cup against host South Africa on June 11.
