It's the Little and Large show for England as African champions Egypt are wellied at Wembley

IN the end England relied on Little and Large to ease them out of an embarrassing situation against Egypt at Wembley tonight.

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.

Wayne's World: from teen tempest to a man united... and the Egyptians quake

IT seems like just yesterday we were worried about Wayne Rooney's knee.

Today he's unstoppable, the World Cup is ours, Egypt will be flattened on Wednesday, pyramids and all.

Yes, a day can be a long time in football, especially when the England squad are gathered at The Grove with the nation's media in attendance before Wednesday's friendly against Egypt at Wembley (where the surface, according to James Milner, is as bad as World Cup venue Nelspruit, but that's another story).

Yesterday, after Sir Alex Ferguson had warned of a possible knee problem, the Wonder that is Wayne emerged to say all the right things, calming the nation from Defcon 1 to a state of calm serenity.

And as I said here three weeks ago when John Terry was stripped of the captaincy, Rooney emerged before the microphones looking every inch like the man who will lift the World Cup at Soccer City on July 11.

Well, we can dream can't we?

The Wisdom of Wayne knows no bounds. The wild Evertonian has become a man united.

Thus spake Rooney, the 24-year-old who looks like he always has but appears to have matured in every other way: "I feel good. I feel every game I'm going to score. I do feel unstoppable."

Which is exactly what all those nice foreign coaches were saying about him in Sun City last week. Good to hear our spearhead is sharp and confident.

He was even able to explain why, after his headed winner in the Carling Cup final against Aston Villa on Sunday, he has changed his method of scoring. From four headers in 345 games to eight in nine. Echoing my point yesterday about Valencia versus Cristiano Ronaldo, he said: "This year, with Antonio Valencia, the delivery has been better than previous years. But I've been working on my heading. My movement and timing has got better. It has all come together and that is probably why I am scoring more with my head.”

Ah but we've seen this before. A player in top form then suddenly, under the blazing Sun, people like Ashley Cole, John Terry and Wayne Bridge (not to mention their partners) begin to wilt.

No problem there either. After begging the Wembley fans not to boo former captain Terry, he says: “I don’t feel any pressure. I have had to deal with pressure since I was 16. You get used to it. I deal with it in a way I feel comfortable.

“What I will do is try and play my best, give my all. I am ready for the World Cup. I am in the best form of my life. I am ready

"It is difficult as a footballer because you know people look up to you.

"You are role models, whether you like it or not, and you need to try and be aware of that and try to do your best on the pitch and try and do things well for kids to see.

"When I first joined Manchester United I would go out to nightclubs, but it is very rare that I would go out to a nightclub now. It changes with age. I made that decision myself. I got into a few things that I shouldn’t have when I was younger and I tried to change that.

"I am settled at home now. It’s good. I am enjoying my life with my family. I spend a lot of time at home with them and that has obviously benefited me. When you are home you get your rest and it is definitely helping."

And yes, I agree. It all sounds too good to be true. But let's not worry about that. Roll on Egypt. Tutankahmun, Cleopatra, Sphinx, Anwar Sadat, your boys are in for one hell of a beating.