England’s second last game before they travel to Germany for the World Cup saw them visit Old Trafford to face Hungary with a new formation to try out. Liverpool’s Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard were the big movers, Carragher playing as a defensive midfielder and Gerrard pushed up to play just behind Michael Owen. The first 40 minutes were forgetful as England struggled to break down Hungary. The game kicked into life in the final 5 minutes of the first half and Hungary keeper Kiraly was kept busy saving well from a close range header from Owen and then saving a Frank Lampard penalty.

The crowd didn’t have to wait long into the second half for the first goal of the game though with Gerrard heading home a Beckham free-kick on 47 minutes. Another Beckham free-kick four minutes later provided Chelsea skipper John Terry with his first international goal as England took control of the match. Hungary silenced the crowd on 55 minutes with their captain Dardai scoring a superb goal from outside the box giving Paul Robinson no chance. Theo Walcott became the youngest ever England player at 17 years and 75 days when he replaced Michael Owen on 65 minutes. Substitute Peter Crouch made it 3-1 after 84 minutes turning well and slotting home from the edge of the box.

Steven Gerrard told BBC1: "There was a lot of pressure on me tonight trying to play where Wayne plays. I'm never going to be as good as Wayne Rooney in there but I enjoyed it.

"The formation suits us, Frank is superb breaking from midfield and the manager has told us we can interchange. I thought we created a lot of problems for Hungary."

He added: "The most important thing was we won tonight and we won convincingly, we could have been two or three up at half-time but we took our chances in the second half.

"I enjoy playing anywhere, the manager asked me to play just behind Michael, to try to get the ball and make things happen."