England stutter to 3-0 friendly win

England's stuttering build-up to their World Cup opener against the United States continued as Fabio Capello's men laboured to a 3-0 win over South African club Platinum Stars yesterday.

Having lost captain Rio Ferdinand to a training ground injury last week, Capello will have been relieved to have got through this final practice match without any further setbacks on that front, five days before his squad face the Americans in Rustenburg.

But the Italian was given cause for concern by the defensive lapses that were scattered throughout a display that was just as disjointed as the unconvincing friendly wins over Mexico and Japan that preceded his squad's departure for South Africa.

Not until Joe Cole sidefooted home midway through the second half was the game put beyond the reach of the South African Premier League side, who missed a fourth-minute penalty two minutes after Jermain Defoe had given England the lead.

Wayne Rooney swept in a James Milner pass minutes from the end to give the scoreline a more flattering allure on an afternoon when Capello's stars might have suffered greater damage to their morale.

The only player to feature for the full 90 minutes, Joe Cole was one of England's livelier performers and he looks likely to start on the left of midfield on Saturday in the absence of Gareth Barry, who will not have recovered sufficiently in time from his ankle injury.

Capello's decision to pair Rooney with Emile Heskey for the second half suggests the big Aston Villa striker is winning his personal battle with Peter Crouch for a starting role alongside the Manchester United man.