Former Saints striker Peter Crouch netted again for his country as England warmed up for the World Cup with a 3-1 win over Mexico at Wembley last night.

Crouch scored England's second of the night and his 21st in total to put him joint 16th on the all-time England scoring list.

He had earlier set up Ledley King's opener in Engalnd's final Wembley appearance before the World Cup in South Africa.

And after West Ham striker Guillermo Franco pulled one back for the Mexicans just before half-time Glen Johnson sealed the win for England with a brilliant solo effort to open his England account.

Despite the reasonably comfortable final scoreline, Steven Gerrard admitted England still have room for improvement.

Fabio Capello's men looked vulnerable at the back in the first half with Robert Green twice making fine saves to deny Carlos Vela while Carlos Salcido struck the woodwork.

It needed a half-time team-talk from Fabio Capello to ensure England tightened up and ultimately ran out comfortable winners.

Gerrard said: ''The manager wanted more aggression. They had too much possession in the first half. We stood off them and let them play.

''In the second half we got in their faces and stopped them playing.

''I think the key at half-time was the manager stressed we needed to get closer to them. We gave them too much respect in the first half and they are very good players and good in possession.''

Gerrard knows the expectation level of the fans for South Africa and 88,000 gave them a raucous send-off ahead of Sunday's friendly with Japan in Graz and the World Cup opener against the United States on June 12.

The Liverpool skipper said: ''The fans were magnificent. They got behind the team for the whole game. You could see on their faces how desperate they are for us to go to South Africa and do well.

''We can play better than we did tonight but there is still time to sharpen up and we promise the fans we'll go there to the World Cup and give it our best shot.''