England prove too good for United States

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Captain John Terry helped England produce their most impressive performance of the Fabio Capello era with the opening goal in a 2-0 friendly win against the United States at Wembley.

The Chelsea defender had something to smile about after his Champions League final penalty shoot-out agony, when he headed Fabio Capello's side into a 38th-minute lead.

There could have been no more fitting scorer than Terry, just one week after his spot-kick miss cost Chelsea victory in Moscow.

Steven Gerrard made sure of an England win 14 minutes into the second half when he converted a slide-rule pass from substitute Gareth Barry.

England now head for Trinidad & Tobago and their final friendly of the season -- with Terry among seven players involved in the Champions League final excused the trip for Sunday's date.

Coach Fabio Capello confirmed that of the men involved in Moscow only Rio Ferdinand, who has links with the Caribbean, and Chelsea full-back Wayne Bridge, who did not get onto the pitch at the Luzhniki Stadium, will be part of his 20-man squad.

Terry along with Chelsea team-mates Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole are rested along with Manchester United trio Wayne Rooney, Owen Hargreaves and Wes Brown.

They all featured at Wembley where Capello enthused: "The England team performed. All the players played very well.

"In every situation we chose the best way to play. The first 50 minutes the USA pressed a lot, but we played good football. Today the team played like in training. The pressing and tackling were very good. It's another step forward."

The U.S. had survived when Gerrard slotted home David Beckham's curling free-kick, only for the goal to be ruled out because England's newest centurion had not waited for the whistle.

When Beckham picked Gerrard out with another free-kick, the midfielder's shot seemed to be heading into the net until Clint Dempsey got his head to it, providing Frank Lampard with a chance from the rebound which he promptly volleyed wide.

Gerrard also set up Beckham and Jermain Defoe, eager to make an impression on his first England start for nearly two years, but neither man could locate the net.

Terry at least put a different complexion on proceedings, even if his fourth goal for his country could hardly make up for his misery at the Luzhniki Stadium.

"It made me happy, he is a good captain and it was a good performance," Capello said of Terry. "I'm very happy because I saw from him on the pitch what I asked for before the game. It was important for John Terry to score. He can go on his holiday happy now."

Capello used up his maximum six substitutions in the second-half but man-of-the-match Gerrard stayed on the pitch and after scoring his goal, the Liverpool captain cushioned a header into Rooney's path, only for the United striker to screw his shot wide.

"We are certainly on the right path but there is still a long way to go to get to the level we want to perform at," the Liverpool midfielder said.

"Not going to the Euro finals has been hitting home for a long time, ever since we failed to qualify. We are going to have to suffer that disappointment throughout the summer."