England to face Egypt at Wembley in March

England will play a World Cup warm-up match against reigning African Cup of Nations champions Egypt in March.

The Wembley friendly will give Fabio Capello's men a chance to face a team with a similar style to Algeria, who are in England's group in South Africa.

Egypt failed to reach the World Cup finals after they were knocked out by Algeria in a dramatic one-off play-off.

It will be England's first match of the year, and the first time Egypt will have played at Wembley.

England have faced Egypt twice before, with the most recent meeting coming at the World Cup Finals in Italy 19 years ago when Sir Bobby Robson's side won 1-0.

And Capello feels Egypt, who have won the Cup of Nations six times, will give England some much-needed experience of facing north African opposition.

The Italian is also trying to arrange a friendly with Mexico in May, as a warm-up to the opening game against the United States on 12 June, before playing a final game, likely to be against Japan, at the end of a pre-tournament training camp in Austria.