Fortune favours England

GRAZ: Two own goals saved England from embarrassment in its final World Cup warm-up match as it came from behind to beat Japan 2-1 here on Sunday.

But the unconvincing victory threw up as many questions as answers for manager Fabio Capello just 48 hours before he must cut his squad for South Africa from 30 to 23.

The unfortunate Yuji Nakazawa and Marcus ‘Tulio' Tanaka, who put his side ahead after seven minutes, both turned the ball into their own net in the second half — just when it looked as though Japan was heading for the first victory over England in their history.

Too slow

Capello admitted that the first-half had left him cold. “The first-half we were too slow, and allowed them to outpace us and create more than we did,” said the Italian, who admitted he knew the final 23 but would not comment on that or about his own future after the World Cup.

“In the second we had more pace and more creativity and gave the Japanese more of a match and stopped them from playing.”

Cacau excels

Meanwhile on Saturday, striker Cacau scored his third goal in two games for his adopted country to seal Germany's 3-0 win over Hungary in a World Cup warm-up friendly in Budapest.

Alongside Cacau, Lukas Podolski and Mario Gomez weighed in with goals to cap impressive performances.

The results:

England 2 (Tulio 72-og, Nakazawa 83-og) bt Japan 1 (Tulio 7); Belarus 1 (Kisliak 53) bt South Korea 0; Ivory Coast 2 (Drogba 54, Bamba 74) drew with Paraguay 2 (Barrios 75, Torres 89).

Saturday: USA 2 (Altidore 58, Dempsey 75) bt Turkey 1 (Turan 27); Hungary 0 lost to Germany 3 (Podolski 4, Gomez 69, Cacau 72) .

Landmark beckons

Captain Aaron Mokoena will become the first South African footballer to be capped 100 times if he faces Guatemala Monday in a World Cup warm-up. The 29-year-old popularly known as ‘Mbazo' (The Axe) operates as a central defender for his country while English club Portsmouth normally deploys him further forward in various midfield positions.

He first played for ‘Bafana Bafana' (The Boys) 11 years ago against Botswana and is a certain starter in the opening World Cup fixture on June 11 against Mexico at the 90,000-seat Soccer City on the outskirts of Johannesburg.

“Winning 100 caps would mean a lot to me although the most important thing is to represent my country. I am honoured to be on the verge of reaching this achievement,” said Mokoena.

Uruguay squad

In Montevideo, a definitive 23-man squad for former champion Uruguay was announced by coach Oscar Tabarez on Saturday:

The squad:

Goalkeepers: Fernando Muslera, Juan Castillo, Martin Silva.

Defenders: Diego Lugano, Diego Godin, Andres Scotti, Jorge Fucile, Martin Caceres, Mauricio Victorino.

Midfielders: Walter Gargano, Egidio Arevalo Rios, Sebastian Eguren, Diego Perez, Maximiliano Pereira, Alvaro Pereira, Ignacio Gonzalez, Nicolas Lodeiro, Alvaro Fernandez;

Strikers: Luis Suarez, Diego Forlan, Sebastian Abreu, Edinson Cavani and Sebastian Fernandez . — Agencies