Gerrard goals rescue England

Steven Gerrard helped Fabio Capello avoid another chastening experience as the England captain’s double strike secured a 2-1 win over Hungary in last night’s friendly at Wembley.

Just 45 days after their dismal departure from the World Cup, Capello’s side were back in action in a fixture that few associated with the national team were looking forward to.

Capello was shifting uncomfortably in his seat as jeers cascaded down from the Wembley stands after Phil Jagielka’s second-half own goal gave Hungary a shock lead.

But Gerrard lifted the deepening gloom with two goals in the space of four minutes to give some respite to Capello, heavily criticised following England’s 4-1 World Cup defeat against Germany.

Capello’s desire to draw a veil over the debacle in South Africa was apparent from his decision to revitalise his squad with an infusion of young blood. He made four changes to the team thrashed 4-1 by Germany, with Joe Hart, Jagielka, Theo Walcott and Adam Johnson coming into the starting XI.

England were caught out in the 62nd minute. Hungary’s Zoltan Gera surged towards the penalty area. Jagielka’s attempt to block the cross only succeeded in deflecting the ball past Hart and, although Michael Dawson lunged to clear it off the line, the linesman ruled the ball had already crossed.

Boos echoed around the stands but, just as the evening threatened to turn nasty, Gerrard came to Capello’s rescue with two well-taken goals.

New France coach Laurent Blanc insisted that he was pleased with his inexperienced team, which included eight new caps, in spite of a 2-1 defeat in a friendly against Norway last night.

Hatem Ben Arfa put France ahead shortly after half-time but two goals from Erik Huseklepp, taking advantage of French errors, took the hosts to victory.

“We always play to win so when we lose we aren’t satisfied,” said Blanc.

“But we have to overlook the score this evening as I saw some interesting things. Some players produced some quality which will help us in the future.”

In Dublin, Argentina began the post-Maradona era with a hard-fought victory over Ireland on the hosts’ return to a refurbished Lansdown Road. Angel Di Maria’s first-half strike consigned Ireland men to defeat in the first international game in the Aviva Stadium.

The Real Madrid striker’s first-half goal gave caretaker coach Sergio Batista the perfect start in charge of the Albicelestes in front of 45,200 fans.

Batista was in charge of Argentina for the first time since Diego Maradona’s reign ended, but resisted any temptation to wield the axe, keeping faith with eight of the side that lost 4-0 to Germany in the World Cup quarter-finals.

Elsewhere, Danish substitute Mads Junker inspired Denmark to come from 2-0 down to force a 2-2 draw against Germany.

Junker created one for veteran Dennis Rommedahl and scored the leveller four minutes from time after Germany had gone 2-0 up through Mario Gomez and Patrick Helmes.

Dick Advocaat enjoyed a winning start to his reign as Russia coach when an early goal from Roman Shirokov secured a 1-0 friendly win over Bulgaria and in Stockholm, Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored on his return from international retirement as Sweden eased to a 3-0 victory over Scotland.

World Cup runners-up the Netherlands’ were held to a 1-1 draw.

PSV midfielder Jeremain Lens put the Dutch side in front in the second half, while Lokomotiv Moscow midfielder Alexander Aliev pulled the scores level just a minute later.

In New Jersey, Neymar, 18, scored in his Brazil debut and Alexandre Pato, 20, added a goal as a revamped Brazil beat the US 2-0 in the first match for both countries since the World Cup.

The friendly attracted a near-sellout crowd of 77,223 to the New Meadowlands Stadium.