He did not cry tears of joy or relief, because the match did not mean anything. Redemption will have to wait for John Terry but, a week on from the desolation of Moscow, it is fair to say that rehabilitation has begun.

The captain’s armband drew a captain’s performance from the fall guy of Chelsea’s defeat in the Champions League final and a goal, the first of the match, to end his season on a positive, even if in his private moments he will still be haunted by the trauma of his fateful miss in the penalty shoot-out last week.

When he scored last night, Terry barely celebrated at first, but after making his way over to David Beckham, the provider, there was genuine warmth in their embrace, a gesture of thanks, perhaps, from Terry for getting him over this first hurdle.

Beckham, who was as good as blamed by Glenn Hoddle, the former England manager, for England’s exit from the World Cup in 1998 after his sending-off, has known a few career lows, too. Maybe he has dispensed words of reassurance in the past few days, much as he dispensed the perfect dead ball from the right for Terry’s header past Tim Howard, the United States goalkeeper, in the 38th minute. When Beckham left the field not to return after half-time, he had the determined features of a man who knew he had done his job. Terry’s face was similarly set at the end.

Gerrard digs hole after ‘graveyard shift’

If the Liverpool captain is to be an integral part of Fabio Capello’s plans, it will not be at the heart of midfield

Lack of sick notes underlines respect for manager

A full strength England side proved that Capello has won his first battle in gaining the support of his players

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Fabio Capello’s England did their job, too: comfortably, if unspectacularly, although this may become a familiar theme under the new manager. The return to the 4-4-2 system may be the shape of things to come, as well, although it will need better opposition and a bigger occasion than this truly to test it. The game against Trinidad & Tobago on Sunday is unlikely to present much more in the way of a challenge and Capello’s decision to leave a number of important players at home suggests that he will use the match to take a look at his in-case-of-emergency team. The one his predecessor, Steve McClaren, tended to get stuck with in crucial games.

Capello has a match away to Croatia in September and only two more friendly games, plus one competitive walkover against Andorra, to prepare. By the looks of his England team last night he is already on plan B. Having started his term as manager with Wayne Rooney operating as a lone striker, he has now abandoned the idea, convinced that the Manchester United man is better in the supporting role. Steven Gerrard, having begun as Rooney’s supporting foil, is now patrolling the left as yet another manager decides he cannot be trusted to hold his position in the heart of midfield.

It will have been an unnerving night for Gerrard, who will not like this glimpse of his potential England future, which has too much in common with the way he is utilised by Rafael Benítez, his manager at Liverpool. Gerrard does not enjoy playing wide and dislikes left even more intensely than right, but he made a decent fist of it. Of course, Gerrard being Gerrard, he did not spend a lot of time there — confirming Capello’s worry about his discipline when operating in the centre — but also, being Gerrard, he could not be suppressed and ended up on the scoresheet in the 59th minute.

The goal followed a change in midfield, with the excellent Gareth Barry replacing Frank Lampard, who did not have the best of games, and immediately playing the killer pass that left the United States back line flat-footed and sent Gerrard free with only Brad Guzan, the substitute goalkeeper, to beat. He did so with professional ease, a simple tap into the most open corner of the net, to ensure no late jitters for those that bothered to make the journey to Wembley, a number that looked considerably fewer than the 71,233 given by the FA as the official attendance.

The FA made it clear before the game that it regarded 70,000 tickets as sold but one hell of a lot of people must have had to work late for there were sections of empty seating here not seen for an England international since the ground reopened.

It gave the game a retro air, a reminder of the days when England could not take qualification for big competitions for granted. Inescapably, here are a group of players that failed when it mattered, and this match was perhaps their penance; played to a half-empty stadium against unappealing opposition at a time when any functioning team are in training for the European Championship. English eyes are on a tournament, too, but it is the World Cup in South Africa in 2010 that focuses Capello’s attention and, from here, it seems a long way off.

Are England getting there? Certainly this looked more like a Capello team than previous incarnations, sturdy through the middle and with the pace in the front line through Jermain Defoe — in Michael Owen’s absence surely — that enabled the manager to play his conventional pressing game. This was Capello’s way at AC Milan and, despite the lifeless nature of the contest, it translated reasonably well.

Rooney seemed happier — although his tackling was wayward and he was fortunate that Kyros Vassaras, the Greek referee, did not fancy his 15 minutes of fame — and Defoe was often dangerous, although he needed to demonstrate greater ruthlessness in front of goal. Capello clearly wanted to ease his team into summer and that he did. Next season, the work begins in earnest.

We must hope that journey does not end in tears, also.