Joe Cole scored with a superb late free kick to give England a 2-1 win over Serbia and Montenegro tonight in a low-key friendly in Leicester.
England, who host Slovakia in Group Seven in eight days, opened the scoring in the 35th minute when midfielder Steven Gerrard surged forward, released Michael Owen and then arrived in the box to side-foot in his Liverpool team mate's cut-back.
Serbia, who visit Finland on Saturday and Azerbaijan on June 11th in Group Nine qualifiers, equalised just before half-time when Nenad Jestrovic headed home from a corner.
Mass substitutions helped contribute to a second half of little goalmouth action until young West Ham United midfielder Cole smashed a free kick round the wall and in off a post eight minutes from time.
Meanwhile, goals from Bernardo Corradi and Marco Delvecchio gave an under-strength Italy a comfortable 2-0 victory over Northern Ireland in Campobasso.
Corradi put Italy ahead in the 31st minute turning in a low cross from Massimo Oddo and then substitute Delvecchio doubled the advantage in the 67th minute with a cool finish after latching on to a superb defence-splitting pass from Antonio Di Natale.