Holland 1 England 1

A goal on his debut from Aston Villa striker Darius Vassell earned England a deserved draw in Amsterdam.

England started the second half very well with Vassell testing Edwin van der Sar with a rasping shot and the Fulham goalkeeper also needing to dive and palm away a David Beckham free kick.

Beckham was defied again by van der Sar when he hit a shot into the ground that came back off the goalkeeper's legs following a good save from a one-on-one chance for substitute striker Kevin Phillips.

England were dominant at this stage and in the 58th minute they struck.

Vassell crossed for Phillips to head on target which van der Sar saved for a corner.

David Beckham curled in the corner kick which Vassell volleyed into the net for an excellent finish.

Twenty minutes later Vassell set up Gareth Southgate for a header which went into the side netting as England impressed again with the home side losing interest.

The second half showing improved on the first half for the visitors who conceded too much space to Dick Advocaat's Holland side.

England's midfield of Steven Gerrard, David Beckham and Paul Scholes rarely attacked to help the strikers isolating the front men to easily.

Although England kept possession well in an even first half, they were unable to compete with the midfield play of Patrick Kluivert who played in a withdrawn role behind Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Kluivert's prompting set the tone for some impressive Dutch passing movements as England stood off the midfield players in the opposition.

Using a new 4-3-3 formation with new caps Darius Vassell and Michael Ricketts playing alongside Emile Heskey, England were rarely threatened by the Dutch side but the width of the home team and their ability to use angles and the run of the ball to create space for runs.

This pulled the England defence out of position at times but it generaly held up well in the first half until a lucky deflection allowed Kluivert to score.

A high ball was not cleared properly and saw van Nistelrooy and Sol Campbell chalnege for first hiit but the ball deflected and drew Rio Ferdinand into the melee and fell to Kluivert whose shot - heading well off target - was deflected off Campbell and bumped off the soft pitch beyond Nigel Martyn who had set himself to pick up the bal easily.

A cross from Gary Neville just before half time caused Michael Reiziger to chest the ball from his own goalmouth to goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar who fumbled behind for a corner kick from which nothing came.

The game was played slowly and was clearly a friendly but England have problems when the pace of matches varies.

The England team enjoy a fast pace but this summer's World Cup tournament will see sides who play slowly with short periods of attacking prosper and this seems beyond England who like to play at a single fast speed.

Their Dutch opponents in Amsterdam did not allow this but did not look like embarrassing Sven Goran Eriksson's side at any stage in the first half.

In the second half England raised the speed of their play and also worked well in defence to demonstrate some of what Eriksson is adding to their game.