WEMBLEY, England – Shaun Wright-Phillips helped to give Fabio Capello a winning start as England coach Wednesday by scoring in a 2-1 victory over Switzerland in a friendly.

The second-half substitute scored the final goal of the match in the 62nd minute. Steven Gerrard overlapped down the left and pulled the ball inside for Wright-Phillips, who arrived unmarked and pushed the ball into the net.

Jermaine Jenas also scored for England, giving the hosts the lead in the 40th minute, but Eren Derdiyok equalized in the 58th.

It was a deserved victory after a slow and nervous start at Wembley. Wayne Rooney had a standout game with his rampaging runs and tackles back in midfield and defense after Capello left Michael Owen on the bench.

For the first 30 minutes, England did little to impress either the new manager or the fans in the 86,857 crowd.

Steven Gerrard, Wes Brown, Ashley Cole, Joe Cole, Gareth Barry and Rooney were all guilty of giving the ball away under no pressure and Capello was out of his seat either grim-faced with his arms folded or pointing instructions to his players.

But a spell of enterprising soccer almost brought two goals for Joe Cole before he set up Jenas in the 40th.

The Chelsea midfielder beat Stephan Lichsteiner down the left and prodded the ball to Jenas, who side-footed the ball home from 6m.

Far from breaking into wild applause, Capello turned, arms folded, and walked back to his seat. Only when the scorer’s name was given by the stadium announcer did he applaud, again with a gesture of urging his players to do better.

The goal, and maybe a halftime talking to, stirred England into more good work after the break and Rooney almost made it 2-0 with an audacious lob which had the goalkeeper beaten but landed on top of the net.

But the Swiss rocked England with an equalizer within seconds of Capello sending on Peter Crouch and Wright-Phillips for Joe Cole and Jenas.

A well-worked series of interpasses ended with Christoph Barnetta pushing the ball into the path of substitute Derdiyok, and the striker, who has scored seven goals in five appearances for the under-21 team, beat goalkeeper David James with a firm left-footer from the edge of the area.

[Copyright ap 2008]