Raheem Sterling's sending off and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain injury marred England's 2-2 draw against Ecuador, while Argentina cruised to a 3-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago despite Barcelona striker Lionel Messi failing to find the net.
Despite the Three Lions going into the match as favourites in the Miami heat, it was Ecuador who drew first blood as Enner Valencia headed in the opener following some shoddy defending from Manchester United's Chris Smalling and Southampton's Luke Shaw.
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney equalised close to the half hour mark before Liverpool's newest addition Rickie Lambert brilliantly put England ahead in the 51st minute.
However, England boss Roy Hodgson was forced to settle for a draw after Michael Arroyo levelled the scores with a long range strike in the 70th minute.
The match grew ugly towards the end as Sterling was shown a straight red card for a poor challenge on Manchester United's Antonio Valencia, who was also sent off for grabbing the Liverpool winger's throat in retaliation.
Hodgson was handed more worries after Arsenal's Oxlade-Chamberlain was forced off pitch with suspected ligament damage at the 63rd minute. The England manager said that the full extent of the injury will only be understood after the Arsenal forward undergoes a scan.
Argentina, on the other hand, stepped up their 2014 World Cup preparations with a comfortable 3-0 win against Trinidad and Tobago at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires.
Although Trinidad and Tobago managed to prevent Messi from getting his name on the scoresheet, strikes from Rodrigo Palacio, Javier Mascherano and Maxi Rodriguez ensured an easy victory for the hosts.
Trinidad and Tobago, however, managed to hold Alejandro Sabella's for nearly the first full 45 minutes as Palacio was only able to break the deadlock in the dying minutes of the first half.
The visitors' goalkeeper Jan-Michael Williams could have prevented the opening goal as Palacio's near-post header, from an Angel di Maria corner, was guided straight at him. However, Williams was not able to hold on and the ball crept over the line.
Five minutes into the second half, Messi nearly found the target when he curled a freekick over the wall towards the right corner of the post. However, the Barcelona's striker's effort was denied by the crossbar. Luckily for Argentina, the rebound fell to Mascherano and the former Liverpool midfielder made no mistake as he directed the ball into an empty net.
Finally the third and final goal resulted from a counter-attack from Argentina after Mascherano's long pass found Palacio behind the visitor's defence. Although the Inter Milan man was able to clip the ball over the onrushing Williams, he had to work very hard to keep the ball in play.
Finally he managed to stop the ball from crossing the line before cutting the ball back to Rodriguez, who easily found the net.
Meanwhile, Italy were disappointing as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Luxembourg at the Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi in Verona.
Despite taking an early lead through Claudio Marchisio in the 9th minute, the Azzurri failed to dominate the game and this allowed Luxembourg to grab the equaliser in the 85th minute.
Jamaica were also only able to register a 2-2 against Egypt, while Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the other hand, were able to pick up a 1-0 win over Mexico thanks to a late first half strike from Izet Hajrovic.
Algeria were also able to beat Romania 2-1 courtesy goals from Nabil Bentaleb and El Arbi Soudani at the Stade de Genève in Carouge.
Ivory Coast also defeated El Salvador 2-1 at the Toyota Stadium in Dallas thanks to first-half strikes from Gervinho and Didier Drogba.
Finally, just as Louis van Gaal had predicted, Netherlands cruised to a comfortable 2-0 win over Wales, who were without the likes of Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey.
