England will head to South Africa in winning form, but a fortuitous 2-1 friendly victory over Japan in Austria has left Fabio Capello with plenty to ponder.
England had to come from behind and were indebted to two late own goals from an unlucky Japanese side to save their blushes.
- Japan 1 England 2 - As it happened
Capello had decided to run the rule over a number of fringe members of his squad ahead of his unveiling of the final 23-man travelling party on June 1.
However, it produced a disjointed and dismal first-half performance in which England failed to hit the mediocre heights they did in another fortunate 3-1 victory over Mexico on Monday.
Darren Bent, Tom Huddlestone and Theo Walcott were all handed starts, but the trio were hauled off at half-time and may now find themselves missing the plane to South Africa.
Japan took the lead in the seventh minute when defender Tulio Tanaka stole a march on Glen Johnson and met a well-worked corner routine with a low volley which found the back of the net through Ashley Cole's legs.
England had their chances despite being off-colour with Aaron Lennon wasting the best after firing straight at the keeper when put through by a clever Wayne Rooney pass.
Bent then anticipated well but guided a header from Rio Ferdinand's long ball over the top wide with the keeper caught on his heels.
Capello was clearly alarmed with what he saw in the first half and rang the changes at the interval. Joe Hart, Jamie Carragher, Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard and Shaun Wright-Phillips all came on and the Italian even altered his formation to an unusual 3-5-2 to much surprise.
England immediately looked more dangerous and should have been back on level terms when they were awarded a penalty for handball after 56 minutes. However, Frank Lampard, fresh from missing a spot-kick for Chelsea in the FA Cup final, again missed from 12 yards as Eiji Kawashima dived low to his right to turn away his penalty.
Either side of the penalty miss, Hart again added to his growing reputation with two top-quality saves to keep out a Japan side that was happy to play on the break. His opposite number, Kawashima, then did superbly to claw Rooney's effort, that was bound for the top corner, over the crossbar.
But with time beginning to run out on England, they were gifted two quick-fire lifelines virtually out of the blue.
First Tanaka headed a harmless looking Joe Cole cross into his net at the near post on 72 minutes. Then, 11 minutes later, Yuji Nakazawa stuck out a leg and deflected Ashley Cole's early cross from the opposite flank past his helpless keeper.
There was still time for substitute Emile Heskey to miss a sitter from three yards when he failed to meet Gerrard's superb cross. But after getting out of jail, Capello has certainly been given a strong indication of whom he should and should not select for his final squad of 23 players.
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Source: DSG
