England beat local side Platinum Stars 3-0 in the Three Lions’ final warm-up match for the World Cup, Jermain Defoe, Joe Cole and Wayne Rooney grabbing the goals.
Defoe finished from close range in the opening minutes, Steven Gerrard pulling back from the by-line after Shaun Wright-Phillips had sliced open the Stars defence with a through-ball.
Soon after the South African club side won a penalty when Glen Johnson was harshly penalised for a foul. Bradley Grobler blazed the spot-kick over.
His team were mainly restricted to long-range strikes, but caused Joe Hart and Robert Green – in goal either side of the break – one or two problems with those.
Crouch and Wright-Phillips both saw first-half goals ruled out for offside as England attempted to prise apart their opponents, with less success than in the opening minutes.
Fabio Capello changed his entire line-up at half-time, with the exception of Joe Cole, who completed 90 minutes.
And it was Cole who scored the second, finishing with aplomb from Rooney’s ball through.
The Manchester United striker and Emile Heskey had replaced Crouch and Defoe, and there was a great contrast between the pair.