Peter Crouch, Tottenham's 6ft 7in streak of ligament, and Shaun Wright-Phillips, Manchester City's 5ft 5in mini-me, got the goals that took Fabio Capello's men from 1-0 down to 3-1 up in 45 glorious second half minutes.

Remember, Egypt are the three-time African champions. Only a last-gasp play-off against Algeria forced them out of the World Cup in South Africa this summer, it would have been their first since they scared the life out of England, Holland and the Republic of Ireland at Italia 90.

While the tabloids prepared their "England in a Pharoah crisis" headlines after 45 minutes, Capello worked his magic, bring on Crough for Jermain Defoe and Wright-Phillips for Theo Walcott. Lovely line Chriss Waddle, who said: "I've studied Walcott on the wing. And I've decided he just doesn't understand football. He makes the wrong runs at the wrong time."

Most Arsenal fans would agree. The boy's got pace, but little else. Oh, and Capello also brought on the under-rated Manchester United playmaker Michael Carrick for Chelsea's over-hyped Frank Lampard and Aston Villa's James Milner for Liverpool's Stevie Gerrard, who rarely impresses for England. Those might have been the best moves of all.

So, after Matthew Upston's slip gifted Mohammed Zidan an opening goal - leading to calls for the Premier League to sign the 28-year-old, currently at Borussia Dortmund - there was a touch of unrest at Wembley.

Capello had his half-time chat, made a few changes, and presto! England came roaring back. What a night. Crouchie took his tally to 20 in 37 for England - if only he could do that in the Premiership - with a superb double. Ironically, Defoe, who scores so frequently for Spurs, failed where his club-mate thrived.

Wright-Phillips scored the second after a Milner volley, made the third for Crouch. Their celebration saw a high five for Wright-Phillips. A low-five for Crouch. Great stuff.

Capello, with a little help from the interpreter, said: "The second half we won the ball back quickly. I think I'm happy. We have to choose a lot of players, it's good. Crouch is an option, he play very well. It's very important because the second half he made the different.

"Always when you go forward, you take the ball, and the whole team goes forward."

Not entirely sure what all that means, but somewhere between the lines I guess you can predict Crouchie - and Shaun Wright-Phillips - will be part of the 23-man squad that travels to Rustenburg on June 1.

Interesting to see David Beckham warming up but not getting on. Loved James Milner. Came on and produced a lovely volley that led to the Wright-Phillips goal.

Wes Brown at right back? No. Forget Gary Neville and Glen Johnson. Try James Milner. Upson erred for the first goal but John Terry, booed a little at the outset, seemed to forge are reasonable partnership with him.

West Ham's Rob Green continues to hold off Portsmouth's David James and Birmingham's on-loan Joe Hart in goal.

It's all settling down. England are up to eight in the FIFA world rankings. I still say England should be backed for global supremacy at Soccer City on July 11. Forget the Terry/Cole disruptions. We have the depth, Capello has the knowledge. Egypt are in denial.

Truth is of course, if they'd read my blog, they'd have know it's nothing of the kind. If any of them had seen https://nealcollins.co.uk/south-africa-world-cup/england-football-training-camp.html published before I sped off to the second cricket Test before Christmas, they'd have known the Royal Marang Hotel is only half finished.

Yes, the grass pitches are still being prepared, as are the five plastic pitches. But the complex, carefully hidden off the road to Boschhoek six kilometres from the Royal Bafokeng Stadium where England will play their opening Group C game against the USA on June 12, will be ready.

Funded by the Bafokeng tribe, who claim a slice of the platinum mine profits, this will be the finest high altitude training camp in the world. At 3,900ft above sea-level, the Australian and New Zealand rugby teams are already booked in to prepare for their Tri-Nations clashes. The All Blacks used to prepare at Swartkops High School, on a resurfaced rugby pitch some 300ft close to sea-level in Centurion, an hour away.

Now the Italians are consigned there, the USA will be training at the nearby Southdowns College, the Argentinians at Pretoria University's High Performance Centre, the Dutch at Wits University's Milpark.

All are inferior to England's base near Rustenburg. The FA have been on top of this one for months. Fabio Capello will visit there again tomorrow on his way to a coaching symposium at Sun City half an hour away.

As Mark Ferguson, head of security at the complex assured me: "We will be ready by May. Your Football Association officials fly in here all the time. You don't have to worry."

But, typically, the tabloids arrive, rustle up a couple of old pictures, and scream about "a dump" and "shambles".

It isn't. By the time the England squad arrive in early June, the Royal Bafokeng Sports Complex will be ready. Half of the five-star hotel opened in November, the other half will open in March. The pitches will be ready, the roads will be resurfaced. I've been saying this for two months. But do they listen?

How about the Germans? They're booked in to the Velmore Estate in Erasmia, nearer Centurion than Rustenburg. And their training pitch has only just been dug out... they'll be bringing the grass asap! The Australians are based at Kloofzicht, a lovely resort in Muldersdrift near Sandton, 20 miles away. But there isn't a decent football pitch within a half-hour drive.

So rest easy. As I told you two months ago, England have the best possible preparation for this World Cup. And an easy qualifying group against the Yanks, Slovenia and Algeria. It's winter, the weather will suit us, particularly for the games in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. And if Fabio Capello's team win the group, they'll be playing their first knock-out match back in Rustenburg, just down the road from the training camp.

As far as Rustenburg goes, we do not need to panic. But if some clogger injures Wayne Rooney in the next three months, rush around screaming hysterically. That's where the key to our World Cup success, ending 44 years of hurt, really lies.

Sadly, Blatter will not offer a replay or a 33rd place in the finals to the aggrieved Irish. As I said on Sky News with Eamonn Holmes this morning, meaningful justice will never be done. Blatter laughed when he talked of Ireland's plea for an extra place, which left assistant boss Liam Brady fuming over the treatment of his unfashionable footballing nation. And despite that 486,000-strong petition for a replay on Facebook - which I also talked about on television this morning - all that is likely to happen is that FIFA will agree to two extra officials behind either goal in an attempt to improve "match control".

If we accept France are now unavoidably through - and I hope they will be roundly booed, Kevin Pietersen style, whenever the play in South Africa - then Henry must be punished.

After the match he admitted to deliberate handball, which is a red card offence. Now FIFA must review the incident on video and punish him like any other cheat who is caught in the act. Henry, France's record scorer with 51 goals, must miss at least the first two matches of the World Cup next year.

Former Liverpool manager Gerrard Houllier launched an impassioned defence of Henry this morning, probably hoping to ease concerns before tomorrow's FIFA gathering in Cape Town.

The 62-year-old, now technical director at the French football federation, said: "A lot of the former players in France have condemned what Thierry has done but, at the same time, they said they would have done the same. He didn't cross the ball with his hand. It's the referee's error. I'm not saying he did something right but he did something that sometimes, when you play football, you do to help you but you expect the referee to punish you.

"Thierry is too honest a person to have done this immorally. It was not premeditated. I don't think he'll be punished and even if the goal had not been allowed, they would not have qualified. It would have gone to penalties."

I used to have a certain respect for Houllier, who suffered a life-threatening aortic condition while he was in charge at Anfield. Those mealie-mouthed words do him no credit.

Ban Henry. If there's to be no replay, it's the least FIFA can do.