International friendlies preview: Euro preparations commence

England will rest Wayne Rooney for their friendly with Norway after it was revealed he carried an injury towards the end of the season.

England manager Roy Hodgson also hinted that Rooney might miss England’s other Euro 2012 warm-up, against Belgium, a week later.

“He won’t be involved in the Norway game and I don’t know whether I will select him for Belgium at this stage,” Hodgson said.

His absence will give Hodgson a chance to decide who he will use up front for England’s first two group matches in next month’s tournament with Manchester United striker Rooney suspended for those games.

Norway turn their attention to their 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign having missed out on a place in Poland and Ukraine, and will be looking to impress at the Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo.

In other action, world and European champions Spain play Serbia in Switzerland, with coach Vicente del Bosque calling up Chelsea pair Fernando Torres and Juan Mata into his Euro 2012 warm-up squad.

The recall boosts Torres’ hopes of being included in Del Bosque’s final 23-man squad, which will be named early next week.

Serbia, who failed to qualify for Euro 2012, will be led by new coach Sinisa Mihajlovic for the first time.

Elsewhere, Switzerland host another tournament favourite, Germany, in Basel, while fellow Group B competitors, the Netherlands and Portugal, go in as favourites against Bulgaria and Macedonia respectively.

Euro 2012 co-hosts Poland take on Slovakia, while fellow Group A rivals, Greece and Russia, play Slovenia and Uruguay respectively.

The current South American champions, Uruguay, are warming up for their upcoming World Cup qualifiers and sit undefeated and equal first on the standings after three matches.

And ahead of CONCACAF’s next qualifying stage, the USA host Scotland in Florida and Honduras play New Zealand.

World Cup preparations will also be in full swing when El Salvador meet Moldova and Costa Rica host Guatemala.

In other friendlies, Czech Republic play Israel, Denmark will face a stern test against Brazil, Ireland meet Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia should have little trouble in overcoming Estonia.