Sport

England beat Egypt in comeback

15:58 pm on 4 March 2010

England have started their football World Cup build-up with a 3-1 victory over Egypt at Wembley Stadium, despite being outplayed by the African champions for the opening 45 minutes.

The visitors dazzled the 80,000 crowd with a superb attacking display in the first half, capped by a goal from Mohamed Zidan in the 23rd minute to go into halftime ahead 1-nil.

But England came back after the break, with substitute Peter Crouch scoring twice for the home side and Shaun Wright-Phillips netting the other.

The win stretches England's unbeaten record against African opposition to 16 matches.

Meanwhile Italy, the top seeded team in New Zealand's World Cup group, was held to a nil-all draw by Cameroon in Monaco after fielding an experimental side.

New Zealand play their first World Cup warm-up match against Mexico in Pasadena tonight.