David James
                                                   
 
  Gary Neville                         John Terry                 Sol Campbell                   Ashley Cole
  (Phil Neville 85)                   (Ledley King 88)

                                                           Frank Lampard
                                                           (Nicky Butt 82)

  David Beckham                                                                                          Steven Gerrard
  (Joe Cole 82)                                                                                            (Owen Hargreaves 82)
                                                            Paul Scholes
                                                            (Kieron Dyer 77)

                                              Wayne Rooney                 Michael Owen
                                             (Emile Heskey 77)            (Darius Vassell 77)

Subs not used: Bridge, Paul Robinson, Ian Walker, Jamie Carragher, Wayne Bridge, Jermain Defoe

The Japanese team was Narazaki, Nakazawa, Miyamoto, Tsuboi, Santos,  Inamoto (Fukunishi 90), Ono, Kaji, Nakamura, Tamada (Suzuki 60), Kubo (Yanagisawa 60)

Before the game the England manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson said he would field his first choice line up for Euro 2004. Frank Lampard was given the holding midfield role in a midfield diamond formation with Steven Gerrard in the left wing position and Wayne Rooney up front alongside Michael Owen.
 

                             
               The ball rebounds off the goalkeeper and Owen scores                        Michael Owen

England began the match very well and could have scored before Michael Owen took the lead after 22 minutes. Steven Gerrard ended a charging run from midfield with a powerful shot that the Japanese goalkeeper, Narazaki could not hold onto and the ball rebounded to Owen who scored from close range.

England continued to dominate the game until ten minutes from half time when the Japanese became more confident and Japan were unlucky not to level the game before the half time break.

In the second half England still looked dangerous going forward but exposed at the back and after 52 minutes Japan equalised. An unmarked Ono came into the penalty box and collected an accurate pass from Alex before hitting the ball into the England net. Both England and Japan had chances to win the game after that goal but the game ended 1-1.

Who played well:  Steven Gerrard played well (even from the left wing which is not his favourite position) and it was good to see Michael Owen get on the score sheet again. David James also had a good game as the England goalkeeper.

Who could have played better: Frank Lampard looked dangerous going forward but was playing out of his usual position in the holding midfield role and sometimes left England exposed at the back. Paul Scholes was lucky not to give away a penalty and has not scored for England since June 2001 despite often playing in the attacking midfield position (although his passing was up to his usual standard).

After the match Eriksson would not confirm that this would be the starting team in the first Euro 2004 match against one of the favourites, France. It is possible he may play a more defensive line-up but Nicky Butt (who had the midfield defensive position in the World Cup 2002) has not played much for his club team, Manchester United this year.