Steven Gerrard's brilliant brace saw England come from behind to beat Hungary 2-1 at Wembley.
Captain bags brace to ensure Capello avoids more misery
Steven Gerrard's brilliant brace saw England come from behind to beat Hungary 2-1 at Wembley.
Fabio Capello handed out four debuts and experimented with his formation in the first game since England's woeful World Cup campaign.
And trailing to a dubious second-half goal against a team ranked 62nd in the world, the hangover from South Africa seemed set to linger into the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.
But captain Gerrard led by example, scoring a quick-fire double to give the Three Lions a victory they deserved - and so desperately needed.
Impressive debuts
Theo Walcott and Adam Johnson returned after being left out of the World Cup squad and put in decent performances, while Kieran Gibbs and Bobby Zamora made impressive debuts as half-time substitutes.
Joe Hart looked solid in goal on his first England start while Ashley Young combined well with Gibbs down the left after also coming on at the break, offering plenty of cause for optimism ahead of England's opening Euro qualifiers against Bulgaria and Switzerland next month.
The boo-boys voiced their frustration again after a goalless first-half and a Phil Jagielka own goal, which came about from a Michael Dawson error and appeared not to have crossed the line.
But that was more a reflection of the hurt they still feel from England's World Cup debacle in South Africa rather than an assessment of the new-look side's performance at Wembley.
Wayne Rooney started as a lone striker with Gerrard in behind - a role many felt Capello should have deployed his skipper in during the World Cup - and Rooney had the ball in the net after an early ball by Gerrard only to see the offside flag was up.
Walcott recall
Had Walcott produced the incisive running on show in the opening 45 minutes in those warm-up games against Mexico and Japan, he would surely not have been left in tears as the squad departed this summer.
It was Walcott's cut-back that presented fellow winger Adam Johnson with the only real chance of the first half, but the Manchester City youngster sidefooted over from 12 yards on his favoured left foot.
Former Crystal Palace keeper Gabor Kiraly tipped Gerrard's curling free-kick over the bar just past the half-hour mark and a Rooney piledriver was deflected wide.
Capello made four substitutions at the break, giving debuts to Dawson, Gibbs and Zamora, while Jack Wilshere made his bow from the bench late on.
But Dawson's slip allowed Hungary to take the lead in the 63rd minute The Tottenham defender failed to cut out a ball to Fulham's Zoltan Gera, who laid off for Vladimir Komen and he squared the ball against Jagielka before Dawson attempted to clear off the line.
Gerrard double
The goal was given but Gerrard led the England fightback in the 69th minute, smashing a 25-yard strike into the top corner after Gibbs' run down the left had been halted.
Then four minutes later Young found the Liverpool star in the box and he turned one man and nudged the ball past another before poking it inside the near post and wheeling away in delight.
Kiraly denied Adam Johnson and Zamora late on but Hart was still needed to stand tall at the death and block Gera's shot after he was played in by sub Tamas Priskin of Ipswich.
| England |
Team Statistics |
Hungary |
| 2 |
Goals |
1 |
| 0 |
1st Half Goals |
0 |
| 7 |
Shots on Target |
4 |
| 7 |
Shots off Target |
2 |
| 1 |
Blocked Shots |
4 |
| 14 |
Corners |
4 |
| 18 |
Fouls |
18 |
| 1 |
Offsides |
2 |
| 0 |
Yellow Cards |
3 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 87.2 |
Passing Success |
76.6 |
| 20 |
Tackles |
17 |
| 80 |
Tackles Success |
70.6 |
| 62.3 |
Possession |
37.7 |
| 54.5 |
Territorial Advantage |
45.5 |
|
