World Cup warm-ups in pictures, featuring the Netherlands, Portugal & Italy

This evening’s bout of World Cup warm-ups saw England’s fellow group members Italy compete in what went on to be quite a gruelling contest away to the Republic of Ireland, while the Netherlands took on Ghana.

Elsewhere, a Cristiano Ronaldo-less Portugal side went up against Greece.

Here, we give to you some of the more striking images of the evening’s football action.

We kick off with a rather wistful shot of Italy’s Mario Balotelli, ahead of the Azzuri’s away clash with Martin O’Neil’s Republic of Ireland side.

Despite rumours of a potential move to Celtic, Irelands assistant manager Roy Keane was out to fulfil half of one of football’s most joyfully photogenic duos. This one’s prime for a caption comp.

Perhaps the biggest talking point from what was actually a relatively high-octane 0-0 draw came when shortly into the match Italy’s Riccardo Montolivo suffered what later turned out to be a broken tibia under an Alex Pearce tackle.

Louis van Gaal’s Netherlands side hosted Ghana, this evening where the Oranje ran out 1-0 victors.

Nevertheless, the incoming Man United coach lamented his side’s performance post-match:

Van Gaal named pretty much what you’d expect to be his first team going into the World Cup competition and squandered several chances throughout.

Perhaps the one image that best sums up the resulting sense of frustration comes from an altercation between Bayern Munich’s Arjen Robben and Rashid Sumaila, following a reckless challenge from the Ghana defender. He did not. He did not. Look happy.

We were treated to what looks to be some John Terry-esque defending from German born Jeffery Schlupp here, as Robin van Persie netted the goals only game.

See if you can guess the scoreline from this shot of Paulo Bento during his Portugal side’s encounter with Greece.

Not got it yet? Well here’s another snap of reported Manchester United target William Carvalho going up for a header with former Celtic star Giorgios Samaras for you to feast your eyes on while you mull it over.

Yep. You guessed it. Another rigorously contested 0-0 draw.

We leave you with Portugal’s Bruno Alves mid-air dunking Greece’s Giannis Maniatis.

Van Gaal: "We were careless in possession., We had lots of opportunities to create chances and we haven't taken advantage of them."

— Peter McVitie (@PeterMcVitie) May 31, 2014