Crouch, who also took the man-of-the-match award, replaced his Tottenham team-mate Jermain Defoe at half-time with England a goal down.

It was a performance which could have booked the 6ft 7in striker his ticket on the plane to South Africa for the World Cup finals.

But Capello was giving little away, instead insisting it had been vital to see Defoe playing alongside Wayne Rooney.

Capello said: "Peter Crouch is in one good moment of form. He played very well but it was not only he who played very well. All the team played a good game.

"Crouch is one of the important players and he has played a lot of matches for me. He is in an important moment of form but when I select the squad I will tell you all the players can play.

"I wanted to see today what happens with Rooney and Defoe. I know what happens when Rooney is with Crouch and Heskey and Carlton Cole. It is important for the World Cup to see how they can play together."

Crouch's two goals, however, mean he has struck 20 goals in 37 matches for his country, a prolific strike rate which puts him up there with the best.

His equaliser was especially important, coming in the 56th minute after Egypt had gone in 1-0 up at the interval thanks to a slip from central defender Matthew Upson which allowed striker Mohamed Zidan to open the scoring.

Crouch's second wrapped up the game after Shaun Wright-Phillips had also capped an impressive second half performance with a goal of his own.

It left Capello admitting Wright-Phillips' performance was "really important" and saluting the Wembley crowd for a night in which they put unity before abuse.

There were a smattering of early boos for former captain John Terry in the wake of the high-profile scandal going on in his private life but they were quickly drowned out as the crowd got behind the team which will carry the hopes of the nation to the World Cup in 14 weeks time.

Capello said: "Thank you for the crowd. They supported the team and John Terry. This was a most important game for him after what happened outside the pitch. He played a fantastic game like I know he can do at this level.

"When I chose him as captain I knew the value of him as a player."

Capello believed Egypt, the current African Nations Cup holders, were a good test and he was delighted with the way his side fought back after going behind.

Capello said: "I was happy for the chances we created in the first half. We had four easy chances to score. Their goalkeeper was really good.

"When I spoke with the players at half-time I told them we had to change something and they did everything in the second half.

"Egypt are a really good team. They played well in the first half. In the second half they were tired because they ran too much in the first half to win the ball. But they are good technically and dangerous going forward."

Asked if he thought England would win the World Cup he replied: "A lot of countries want to win the World Cup. We will try."

Meanwhile, Egypt manager Hassan Shehata said: "It was a serious game. An open game and we gave a good performance.

"The English team were successful in the second half. The second goal was offside but the referee was fair in the match.

"It was our first match since the African Nations Cup and we are preparing our team for a new system and a new style. We missed some chances which could have changed the result.

"Our changes were not as good for us as the England team's were. Also we have come from the African Nations Cup and our players were exhausted."