Fabio Capello, the England manager, thanks supporters for not turning on John Terry during the friendly win over Egypt on Wednesday night.

Terry was stripped of the England captaincy after revelations of an extra-marital affair with the former girlfriend of Chelsea and Three Lions teammate Wayne Bridge, with the centre-back painted firmly as the villain of the piece.

Some England supporters at Wembley did boo him in the early stages, but that faded away as the match went on.

"I really thank the crowd for supporting him. It was a very important game for him after what happened to him off the pitch and he had a fantastic game,” said Capello.

"He is very important to us but I knew that when I made him captain in the first place."

England fell behind thanks to a 23rd-minute goal from Mohamed Zidan, with the Africans good value for the elad.

Two second-half goals from Peter Crouch, coupled with a strike from Shaun Wright-Phillips, sealed a win for the home side.

"Egypt are a very good team and played very well in the first half -- I learned a lot from them," added Capello.

"The north African style is different to the way teams from central Africa or southern Africa play and that is exactly the way I expect Algeria [who England face in the group stages of the World Cup in June] will play – high tempo, great technique.

"I think though that Egypt might have run too much in the first half and they tired in the second."