England v Japan

The Editor — Sun, May 30th 2010

England 2 - Japan 1

After an early goal from Japan from a poorly defended corner, England struggled to impose themselves against a neat, but unimpressive Japan team.

Capello gave starts to Huddlestone and Bent and while neither played badly, they did little to increase their chances of making the final squad for South Africa. It was hard to pick out many positives from the first half.

After several substitutions at half time England improved (again) in the second half. Gerrard livened up the midified and England played with Rooney playing as the lone striker.

Of the second half subs, Joe Cole was bright once he stopped over-complicating things, and Wright-Philips was much better than Walcott (possibly too little too late fro the Man City winger).

England forced two own goals from dangerous crosses from Joe, then Ashley Cole, and possibly deserved to win in the end.

Another slow start. Several unimpressive performances (eg, Walcott). No solution to the holding midfield role.

No huge positives that we did not already know. Capello can change things at half-time, Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard are crucial.

Listed in: Competitions, World Cup, World Cup 2010, Countries, England

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