There were many matches will played today as they prepared for the World Cup and so with England as the play against Japan at Austria. Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand were among our player to be included in this match as Capello will have his final selection after the game with Japan.
As expected our boys crack Japan with a 2-1 win with goal courtesy from an own goal by Julio Tanaka and another own goal by Japan's goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima. The funny thing is what happen to goal scoring machine??? For full pack news, read this minute by minute commentary courtesy of Telegraph, UK.
FULL-TIME: England 2 Japan 1
England move on to the World Cup finals with another victory under their belts. Not a single Englishman managed to get on the scoresheet and, if truth be told, England were rubbish in large patches, but a win is a win and, hopefully, they can take confidence from that.
A total of 17 players were used by Fabio Capello during the game. Now the Italian will return to the somewhat dryer surroundings of his hotel room to deliberate over who gets dropped. Several phone calls now need to be made.
91st min: Steven Gerrard is moving very gingerly, he's been limping for a couple of minutes now. Not a good sign.
88th min: Should have been 3-1 to England. A superb cross into the box from Steven Gerrard invited one of the England forwards to put a head on it but the diving Emile Heskey couldn't stretch his 6ft-plus frame long enough to reach.
86th min: England are winning and the heavens have opened. There's an Austrian monsoon occuring in Graz. Brollies shooting up all over the place, except in the England dug-out fortunately. Flashes of lightning in the sky and a loud cheer from the supporters every time the thunder rumbles.
82nd min: GOAL!!! England 2 Japan 1
Another own goal. Japan's goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima has played so well but has ended up picking the ball out of the back of his net twice off his own players. This time Ashley Cole whipped in from the left and Yuji Nakazawa inadvertently toed the ball past his keeper.
81st min: Fabio Capello has tinkered again, Shaun Wright-Phillips switching to the right and Joe Cole to the left.
79th min: From Mark Ogden on Twitter - "Cunning England plan to lower WC expectations? Play awfully, miss a pen and lose to Japan. Pretty bad"
77th min: England supporters try to raise the noise levels in the stadium by chanting "we're on the p*** and we're having a laugh" (repeat x5 before getting bored)
74th min: Looks like Emily Heskey is about to come on and England will revert back to 4-4-2. Why, why, why, why ,why? The new 4-2-3-1 formation was working. Aaron Lennon comes off and Joe Cole goes to the right-hand side, where back to 4-4-2.
71st min: GOAL!!! England 1 Japan 1
Own goal from Tulio Tanaka. It was certainly the only way goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima was going to be beaten. Joe Cole whipped the ball in from the bye-line and Tanaka headed the ball into his own net while trying to intercept.
68th min: Top class save from Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima. Wayne Rooney's 20-yard, curling effort looked to be bending in but was palmed away to safety by the diving keeper.
66th min: Great save from Joe Hart keeps England just one goal adrift. This writer's optimism at the start of the second half is beginning to look a tad miss-placed.
64th min: Camera pans to Ledley King in the dug-out. The centre-back is unavailable for selection having played against Mexico on Monday - a full fours days ago. Is it just me or does that just sound stupid?
60th min: Fabio Capello and Japan coach Takeshi Okada have just had an argument on the touchline using the international language of arm waving. It looks like England have been told to get stuck in to their opponents if 'tackles' from Wayne Rooney and Jamie Carragher are anything to go by.
58th min: From Henry Winter on Twitter - "Rio Ferdinand moving awkwardly...thigh? after hefty challenge on Okazaki. Seems OK. England better. Couldn't be worse"
57th min: I've just been reminded that England have actually been practicing penalty kicks during their training camp in Austria. Oh, the irony...
55th min: SAVED - It's still England 0 Japan 1. An inital Frank Lampard free-kick was handballed by Keisuke Honda and the referee had no hesitation in awarding the pen. The Chelsea midfielder stepped up, calm as you like, but his spot-kick, fired towards the bottom left-corner, was brilliantly saved by Eiji Kawashima.
54th min: PENALTY TO ENGLAND
53rd min: From Henry Winter on Twitter - "England 4-2-3-1. Gerrard deep with Lamps. Better tempo. Roo up top. Big 45 for J Cole in the hole"
50th min: It's a much brighter start for England but they need to keep up this tempo. The shape of the team looks much better. And just as I say that, Keisuke Honda produces a zipping long-range shot that Joe Hart does well to tip over. Referee fails to spot the contact and gives a goal kick to England.
47th min: Aaron Lennon has switched to the right wing and it looks like Wayne Rooney is the lone man up front (Andy Townsend gets his wish). Joe Cole seems to be playing in the hole behind Rooney, with Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard in central midfield and Shaun Wright-Phillips on the left.
45th min: Fabio Capello is ringing the changes. Jamie Carragher, Joe Cole, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Steven Gerrard and Joe Hart are on and David James, Glen Johnson, Tom Huddlestone, Darren Bent and Theo Walcott are off. It looks like England are also changing formation, stand by for updates...
HALF-TIME: England 0 Japan 1
England's players won't have enjoyed that much and they will probably enjoy the half-time interval even less as Fabio Capello prepares to let rip into what was a pathetic first-half performance. Wayne Rooney aside, not one of the England players out on the pitch walked off with their reputations in tact.
43rd min: Theo Walcott looks like England's main outlet, the Arsenal wing and Wayne Rooney combining well. Walcott has put a number of balls into the box but all a bit close to the Japan keeper.
38th min: From Henry Winter on Twitter - "England Expects?? Not with 4-4-2. Not with Tom Huddlestone & Glen Johnson playing like this. Fans trying to lift quiet, nervous England"
36th min: It's still 1-0 to Japan and if it stays this way expect a raft of substitutions at half-time. Tom Huddlestone looks like a rabbit in headlights and Darren Bent has hardly had a sniff. Huddlestone has just had a shot from distance that was an absolute mile off target but went straight at Wayne Rooney, who nearly manipulated it into a chance, the ball going a yard wide of the post after he jumped up and back-heeled the ball in mid-air.
33rd min: ITV commentator Andy Townsend has just questioned why Fabio Capello is not choosing to use this match to play Wayne Rooney up front on his own, with Steven Gerrard playing behind him (cue camera panning to subs bench where Gerrard is sat staring pensively). Certainly, at the moment, this current 4-4-2 simply isn't working.
29th min: Fabio Capello has just given Glen Johnson the dirtiest of looks after the right-back left the pitch to change his boots allowing Japan space down their left flank to whip in what was, fortunately, a poor cross. He's still on the sidelines because he can't do up his shoe laces. Dear oh dear!
28th min: From Henry Winter on Twitter - "England struggling in 4-4-2. Japan have extra body and desire in midfield. Poor from England. Could be lively half-time talk"
23rd min: The World Cup football is going to cause goalkeepers all sorts of problems if Frank Lampard's 23rd-minute free-kick is anything to go by. The ball dipped, fizzed, swerved (I think it even changed shape for a minute) before dropping at the feet of Elji Kawashima and causing the Japanese shot-stopper to spill it back into the danger zone.
20th min: This is really end to end stuff and Japan could, and probably should, have extended their lead. Rio Ferdinand was nudged off the ball (how does that happen when his opponent is 2ft shorter than him???) but Shinji Okazaki balloons the ball over when he should have done better.
18th min: Great chance for Aaron Lennon who should have equalised for England. Played through by Wayne Rooney, the Spurs flyer fired left footed straight at the keeper.
16th min: Glen Johnson is very busy on the right flank defensively, which will be a worry for Capello. On the left, Aaron Lennon is making some willing runs but hasn't been spotted.
14th min: Japan are doing exactly what Fabio Capello wants his England team to be doing - getting in the face of the opposition and allowing them no time on the ball. England need to sharpen up because at the moment, the Three Lions may be enjoying more of the ball, but Japan look the more threatening.
11th min: England are light on cover at the back. Tom Huddlestone is forgetting his defensive duties and needs to focus.
6th min: GOAL!!! England 0 Japan 1 - England behind inside seven minutes. From a corner Tulio Tanaka runs across Glen Johnson and fires the ball inside the near post, through the legs of Ashley Cole. Terrible start for England who look nervous at the back.
13.22: From Henry Winter on Twitter - "England's No 9 up on main screen as D Brent. Another day at The Office for the Sunderland striker. Looking forward to his goal celebration"
13.20: Pitch look great so there can be no excuses from any of the England players if the bounce doesn't go their way.
13.15: All of this England team believe they are going to South Africa but only one man's opinion counts. Fabio Capello says he knows 20 of his final 23-man squad, with the Italian still undecided on a defender, a midfielder and a striker. He's also revealed he won't name is first choice goalkeeper until the morning of the USA match.
13.10: England takes over Graz and the UPC-Arena is a cauldron of noise as the players walk out onto the pitch to Kings of Leon's 'Sex is on Fire'.
13.05: England fans have been having a moan as they prepare to bid bon voyage to the players. This friendly will be the last time many get to see their heros before they jet off to South Africa carrying the hopes of a nation with them. Supporters claim that getting World Cup tickets is not a problem, it's the cost of flights and hotel rooms etc once out there that are causing issues.
13.00: Japan team in as well so let's see who England will be up against...
Eiji Kawashima, Yuji Nakazawa, Marcus Tulio Tanaka, Yuto Nagatomo, Yasuyuki Konno, Yasuhito Endo, Makoto Hasebe, Yuke Abe, Keisuke Honda, Yoshito Okubu, Shinji Okazaki.
12.55: Adrian Chiles helming the ITV commentary once again. Straight in there with the gags, too, directed at Andy Townsend and Gareth Southgate... "now we'll find out how our commentary team perform at altitude"
12.50: From Henry Winter on Twitter - "FA appoint Bevington as Club England MD. A good football man, his 1st task is to get Fabio Capello to end Inter Milan interest in him"
12.47: Did you know... the fastest goal in a World Cup finals match was scored by Turkey's Hakan Sukur after only 11 seconds against South Korea in 2002.
12.45: Everyone had thought Capello would select his strongest starting XI against Japan, what with it being the last warm-up match before the World Cup starts and all. However, in naming Darren Bent, Tom Huddlestone and David James from the off, with Aaron Lennon on the left, it looks like's he's still experimenting. Who do you think he'll drop?
12.40: From Mark Ogden on Twitter - "if Capello so keen on Carra/Scholes, why wait until WC? Euro 2012 not priority, but squad harmony is. Late-comers will not help that"
12.35: Here's an interesting question posed by my Telegraph Sport colleagues: if Japan were an English club, who would they be? General concensus is... Crewe - terrible team, but every few years they produce an exceptional player who is snapped up by a big European club.
12.30: From Henry Winter on Twitter - "wandering around Graz market...€25 for a modest 'Sturm Graz Forever' T-shirt. And I thought the Premier League was commercially aggressive"
12.25: This summer will be Japan's fourth straight final appearance, but this squad has not inspired domestic confidence. It will be extremely difficult for them to get out of Group E, with a lack of first-rate strikers making it tough for Takeshi Okada's side to break down well-organised teams. Keisuke Hondaand Shunsuke Nakamura provide guile in midfield while the former Arsenal midfielder, Junichi Inamoto, brings experience to the holding role.
12.20: Quick re-cap on the groups both teams find themselves in at the World Cup...
Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia
Group E: Holland, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
12.15: The England team is in...
David James, Glen Johnson, Ashley Cole, Tom Huddlestone, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Theo Walcott, Frank Lampard, Darren Bent, Wayne Rooney, Aaron Lennon.
David James has been handed his first England start for 13 months. The Portsmouth goalkeeper had last been in Fabio Capello's starting 11 for the World Cup qualifier with Ukraine at Wembley in April 2009.
His only action for his country since then was when he replaced the red-carded Robert Green in the return meeting with Ukraine in Dnipro in October.
James and three Chelsea players - Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and John Terry - return after being excluded for the win over Mexico after their involvement in the FA Cup final.
Tom Huddlestone, as confirmed yesterday by England coach Fabio Capello, is given his first start in a bid to make a late claim to be part of the final squad of 23 for South Africa.
The Tottenham midfielder had previously been used as a substitute against Brazil in Doha and against Mexico.
12.10: Hello guys and gals and welcome to Telegraph Sport's live blog from the pre-World Cup friendly between Japan and England in Graz as Fabio Capello takes one last opportunity to cast an eye over his players before announcing a final 23-man squad.
World Cup fever is bubbling up nicely and you can almost count down the days to the start of the tournament on your fingers - just 12 to go.
England's line-up today will have a slightly experimental look with Tottenham's Aaron Lennon operating in an unaccustomed left-wing role. Arsenal's Theo Walcott starts on the right wing.
Japan have leaked five goals without reply in their last two warm-up matches against South Korea and Serbia, finding themselves in need of a confidence-boosting performance with just a final friendly with Ivory Coast, on June 4, before their World Cup opener.
For more pre-match analysis why not fill a few unforgiving minutes by readingDuncan White's preview
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