Hungary’s Tamas Hajnal tries to bend one past the England wall, at Wembley, on Wednesday. (Reuters)

London: Spain returned to action exactly a month after winning the World Cup with David Silva scoring in injury time to salvage a 1-1 draw at Mexico, while the Netherlands drew 1-1 at Ukraine in their first game since losing the final.

Silva scored in the second minute of added time for the Spanish, who trailed for almost the whole of what amounted to a practice game for the out-of-shape world champions — most of whom are just coming back from holidays.

England and Argentina bounced back from humiliating World Cup exits with wins, although England had to recover from a goal down to beat Hungary 2-1 at Wembley. Argentina won 1-0 at Ireland under interim coach Sergio Batista.

Germany let slip a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 with Denmark, and France lost 1-2 at Norway after new coach Laurent Blanc dropped all 23 of the players who went on strike at the World Cup.

Spain , arrived late Monday, so their players had little time to get accustomed to Mexico City’s altitude of 7,350 feet.

Spain captain Iker Casillas showed off the World Cup trophy to the crowd at Azteca Stadium but the goalkeeper, one of only three finalists to keep their starting place in the side, was beaten in the 12th by Manchester United striker Javier Hernandez.

The Netherlands rested their World Cup players and fielded an inexperienced team but led in the 72nd through debut-making striker Jeremain Lens. Midfielder Oleksandr Aliev equalised a minute later.

Steven Gerrard saved England’s pride in their first match since their 4-1 World Cup loss to Germany with two goals at Wembley. After hitting a swerving drive from outside the area to equalise, the England captain spun turned to beat two defenders inside the area, dodged a third and flicked the ball across the goalkeeper and into the net.

But England were again hit by Fifa’s continued aversion to implement goal-line technology.

Debut-making substitute Michael Dawson tried to atone for a slip when he cleared an interception by fellow defender Phil Jagielka off the line, but the referee awarded a 62nd-minute own-goal even through replays appeared to show that the ball had not crossed the line.

England also missed out at the World Cup with an apparent equaliser when 2-1 down to Germany only for the goal not to be given despite crossing the line.

Argentina interim coach Sergio Batista strengthened his case to be given the job full time Wednesday when his team won a friendly 1-0 at Ireland, secured through Angel di Maria’s 20th-minute lob over goalkeeper Shay Given.

Batista is Argentina’s youth team coach and is in temporary charge of the senior squad after Diego Maradona was fired following an inquest into the 4-0 World Cup quarter final defeat to Germany.

Germany coach Joachim Loew only took seven players from his World Cup squad to play Denmark, who also selected an inexperienced lineup.

Denmark rallied from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Germany following Mads Junker’s late equaliser.

Germany led 1-0 in the 19th minute through Mario Gomez and Patrick Helmes rounded off a counterattack for 2-0 in the 73rd.

But Denmark veteran Dennis Rommedahl scored a minute later in his 100th international and Mads Junker equalised in the 86th after goalkeeper Tim Wiese lost the ball. (Agencies)