Australia beat Hungary in last World Cup dress rehearsal

Australia churned out an unconvincing 2-1 win against Hungary here, as the Socceroos played their final warm up game before heading to the World Cup in Russia.

In a game lacking in quality, substitute Daniel Arzani broke the deadlock from long range in the 74th minute on Saturday, although the Hungary goalkeeper should probably have kept the shot out, reports Efe.

Hungary, who lost to eventual winners Portugal in the quarterfinals of Euro 2016 two years ago, equalized with just a minute left in normal time through a Trent Sainsbury own goal.

Australia would not be denied, however, and in a somewhat slapstick end to the match, re-took the lead after Hungary's Tamas Kadar turned it into his own net.

Australia will need to perform much better than this if they are to stand any chance of beating star-studded France in their World Cup opener on June 16.

Australia and France are joined in Group C by Denmark and Peru.

In another match, Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a first half hat-trick as Serbia routed Bolivia 5-1 in their final warm up friendly.

The Fulham striker was ruthless for the Serbians, with Adam Ljajic and Branislav Ivanovic adding one each as the Balkans scored four in a dominant first half.

Bolivia, who did not qualify for the FIFA World Cup kicking off on June 14, pulled one goal back shortly after the restart through Jhasmani Campos.

Serbia play their opening match in Group E, which also contains Brazil and Switzerland, against Costa Rica on June 17.

--IANS

gau/bg