Gary Neville and Paul Scholes started the game but neither finished as they were substituted by United team-mates Phillip Neville and Nicky Butt, who lost his holding role in midfield much to the delight of Chelsea's Frank Lampard.

Sven-Goran Eriksson, fielding his strongest England XI who are likely to start against France next month, decided to give Lampard a chance in Nicky Butt's holding role but didn't shine there.

Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard set up fellow Anfield star Michael Owen to slot home the opening goal from close range just after the 20 minute mark.

Great second half link-up play from the Japanese national side set Feyenoord midfielder Shinji Ono to cheekily strike the ball through David James' hapless legs and cancel out Owen's goal.

Nicky Butt and Phillip Neville were among 8 changes in the latter part of the second half. Scholes and Gary Neville were both replaced with minutes to go.

        Final Score: England 1 - Japan 1

England: James, G.Neville, Terry, Campbell, Ashley Cole, Scholes, Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Owen, Rooney. Subs: Bridge, Robinson, P. Neville, King, Carragher, Butt, Hargreaves, Joe Cole, Dyer, Heskey, Walker, Vassell, Defoe.

Japan: Narazaki, Nakazawa, Miyamoto, Tsuboi, Santos, Ono, Inamoto, Kaji, Nakamura, Tamada, Kubo. Subs: Doi, Kawaguchi, Miura, Tanaka, Chano, Fujita, Fukunishi, Ogasawara, Endo, Suzuki, Yanagisawa, Motoyama.