Although the Three Lions fought back from a half-time deficit to beat Egypt at Wembley last night, there were elements of their performance that were not quite right.

Theo Walcott struggled at times on the right. As individuals, all four members of England's defence had some shaky moments, Frank Lampard, for once, was ineffective and the forward partnership of Wayne Rooney and Jermain Defoe did not appear to work.

It took the introductions of Peter Crouch and Shaun Wright-Phillips, who between them scored England's three goals, plus Michael Carrick, to turn Capello's side into an effective unit.

Yet, facing a team who only last month won the African Nations Cup for the third time in a row, and after only one day's decent training, Capello declared himself satisfied.

The Italian knows the next time he gets his players together again, on May 17 for the first of two altitude training camps in Austria, they will be in his sole care until departure for South Africa and a date with destiny.

"Having the players for a month will be really important," he said.

"We can practice different styles, different positions on the pitch and also to prepare set-pieces, which I could not do before this game.

"When we play the first game of the World Cup, we will be ready."

With a source close to Capello insisting the Italian is not interested in any overtures Russia might make to lure him away from a £6million-a-year contract he has already vowed to see through to 2012, he remains totally focused on the job in hand.

He claims to have whittled down to 30 the number of players competing for places in his 23-man squad.

That does not account for injuries, of which Ashley Cole and Aaron Lennon are his biggest concerns at present.

And clearly, Capello, though a clear-thinking strategist, is capable of altering his view.

In the bowels of Wembley Stadium last night, he remarked on a seemingly insatiable demand to know what conclusions he had reached, only to be reminded that prior to the Holland game in August, he had declared David James to be his undisputed goalkeeping number one.

"You always ask me 'have I decided, have I decided?'," retorted Capello, when asked whether Robert Green was his number one, before conceding: "Perhaps I have changed my mind," when his statement on James was pointed out.

"I know the value of James," he added. "Green is a good keeper but he needs to play more games. The last game he played was against Ukraine."

No-one told Capello that apart from replacing Green following his dismissal that night, James has not played for his country in a year and that out-of-favour Manchester United man Ben Foster had started England's last two games.

It had been nearly as long since Walcott began a game for England too. And Capello sensed he knew it.

With Wright-Phillips, Lennon and the evergreen David Beckham jostling already, it appeared Walcott was eager to make an impression last night having been elevated back to the starting line-up on the strength of one decent performance for Arsenal.

Walcott did enjoy a good early run, when he burst through the Egyptian back four and set Lampard up with an opportunity he should have buried.

After that, it was regression, back to the type of form that has seen Walcott consigned to the substitutes' bench at Arsenal.

"When you don't play a lot of games and then you get the chance to start one you try to do impossible things," reflected Capello.

"But Theo is still one of the important players.

"He is one of the faster players. I remember his performances before he got injured. He still has time to improve."

Although he earned the praise of his manager, debutant Leighton Baines did no better than okay, which means Capello will try to heal Wayne Bridge's gaping mental wounds whilst hoping Cole recovers from his broken ankle.

Possibly the most pleasing aspect for Capello was the crowd reaction to John Terry, which started as mixed and ended being very supportive.

All this is now filed away. Capello is now condemned to sit back and wait, week after week, as the Premier League title, the top four spot, survival, Champions League, Europa League and FA Cups reach their conclusion.

So many big games, all bringing danger to the men he will be relying on when Capello puts his own mighty reputation on the line this summer.

"The pressure is more than I have ever known before," he admitted.

"You are playing for a whole country. Not only one club.

"There is a lot of pressure. You realise it is so very important."