Matthew Upson won his tenth England cap on Saturday as England finished strongly to record a 5-1 home win in World Cup qualifying against Kazakhstan at Wembley.
The central defender got the nod ahead of Joleon Lescott in the absence of the injured John Terry and turned in a solid display alongside Rio Ferdinand in a contest that saw Wayne Rooney take the man of the match plaudits. Upson was fittingly wearing the No6 - the shirt he has proudly handed back at the Boleyn Ground at the start of the season in honour of the country's greatest international Bobby Moore.
In a goalless first half, Upson figured most prominently in the visitors' penalty area - going close with three headers when up for set-pieces. Stand-in captain Ferdinand finally broke the deadlock seven minutes after the interval and an own goal on 68 minutes seemed to suggest the game was safe for Fabio Capello's men.
However, an Ashley Cole mistake let Zhambyl Kukeyev in to score past David James three minutes later and give the Kazakhs hope of a fightback. On 76 minutes, Rooney restored normal service with a header from Wes Brown's cross and then got a second eight minutes later after Upson had caused confusion in the area. Jermain Defoe wrapped up the win with a breakaway goal to leave England with nine points from nine at the top of Group 6.
Upson will hope to keep his place when England go to Belarus on Wednesday night, while Robert Green - who was beaten to a place on the bench by Scott Carson on Saturday - will look to stake his claim as well. In the European zone, the winners of each group will progress to the 2010 World Cup. The eight best runners-up will then be drawn into four play-off matches with the winners of each two-legged tie joining the pool winners in South Africa.