England 2 Japan 1 - Capello sees the positives after Japan cause England problems

Capello will not phone the unlucky seven to be axed until Tuesday morning, and has no intention of giving any clues publicly before then.

But, providing the medical update on Gareth Barry confirms the Manchester City midfielder will have recovered from his ankle injury by the time England start training again after their Group C opener against the United States on June 12, Capello's mind is made up.

"I know the 23 players who are in mind. They are the same 23 that I decided last week. Nothing has changed," he said. "We have to wait for Gareth Barry. We will decide on him after we have had the final check to see how long it will be before he can train with us.

"We have to know everything about this situation but I am not disappointed, my mind is still the same."

Although Capello is keeping the exact make-up of his squad secret, there are a couple of certainties.

Neither Michael Dawson nor Scott Parker had played a single minute for Capello during the Italian's two-and-a-half-year reign as England coach prior to the two-week Austrian training camp. And as they still have not been involved, they can book their summer holidays with a large degree of confidence.

Neither Tom Huddlestone nor Darren Bent took the chances afforded to them by a starting berth yesterday afternoon and were replaced at half-time, so they too are likely to miss out.

Stephen Warnock is highly unlikely to displace Leighton Baines as second choice at left-back, which leaves Adam Johnson, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Joe Cole scrapping over the remaining spot.

And, listening to Capello, Cole's second-half cameo, when he shone more than Wright-Phillips, might have done the job.

"I know Joe Cole very well," said the Italian. "He is in a good moment.

"He is fresh because he did not play a lot of games. Joe Cole is good. He played very well in the second half."

However, even though Capello knows his squad, there is a conundrum looming ahead of that opening match against the United States in Rustenburg.

As Barry seems certain not to be fit in time, Frank Lampard needs a central midfield partner.

On the evidence of the Mexico game last week, and today's scrappy 2-1 win over Japan, Steven Gerrard would be the best choice given his move into central midfield brought out an improved England on both occasions.

But that would put Capello in the same situation that plagued Sven Goran Eriksson and Steve McClaren, namely trying to get the most from Lampard and Gerrard when they are operating in tandem.

"We played very well in the second-half because the quality of these players is really high," said Capello. "I don't know if I will start Lampard and Gerrard together. I have to speak with the players and decide their best position.

"But I was happy about Gerrard's performance against Mexico and today it was the same."

Lampard has already been assured he will remain as penalty taker, despite missing from the spot when England were trailing to Marcus Tanaka's well-taken opener.

It was his second successive failure having also failed for Chelsea in the FA Cup final.

Yet Capello does not seem too concerned.

"The FA Cup was not important," said Capello. "Chelsea were winning 1-0. This was more important. It was 1-0 to them.

"But anyone can miss a penalty. I will keep Frank Lampard as penalty taker."

As England were trailing to the team ranked 45th in the world and, according to FIFA, the fifth-worst of the 32 teams who will compete for the World Cup in South Africa, at that stage, an embarrassment was on the cards.

In the end, the Three Lions were saved by a couple of own-goals that Wayne Rooney's presence panicked Japan into conceding.

Tanaka was the first culprit, turning home a Joe Cole cross, before Yuji Nakazawa did the same when Ashley Cole threatened in similar fashion from the left.

"I am really happy because in the second-half I saw a lot of players going to win back the ball quickly with real spirit," Capello added. "That was really important because it was more aggressive.

"It was not the same team that played against Mexico."

Losing in such a manner was a bitter blow for Japan who had impressed during the opening half of the friendly.

However, after getting beaten on home soil by South Korea at the start of the week, it did represent a marked improvement for coach Takeshi Okada, who offered to resign after a third home defeat in four games.

"Against South Korea I felt the players were missing something mentally," said Okada. "They were not really committed enough.

"They improved that part today even if we were disappointed with the score at the end of the game.

"England are a good side but played very well in the first half and I am happy with that."