England captain John Terry (left) scored a late goal Wednesday to give his young team a 2-1 win over Germany in a soccer friendly.

Terry made up for an earlier mistake by rising over defender Heiko Westermann to meet Stewart Downing's curling free kick at the far post and head the ball into the net in the 84th minute at Olympic stadium.

Matthew Upson scored his first goal for England in the 24th, but Patrick Helmes equalized in the 64th minute after a mix-up between Terry and second-half substitute goalkeeper Scott Carson.

England coach Fabio Capello was able to field only three first-choice players as many stars were injured, while Germany was without captain Michael Ballack and several other potential starters.

"The result is important, the performance was very good because we played in Berlin against a good team. We had a lot of chances to score goals," Capello said.

"I liked the attitude of the team, we played with confidence and personality which is important. I'm confident in my team and we had the opportunity to see players who haven't played a lot for me. I'm very happy because I saw some players play well."

England was the better and hungrier team and remained undefeated in Berlin in eight games, while Germany was booed off the field at the end of the first half and end of the game. England now has 15 wins and 10 losses against Germany, with six draws.

"England was better, period," Germany coach Joachim Loew said. "We were caught on a bad day. We deserved to lose."

"We had no organization, we lost too many balls; our passing game was bad, we were not aggressive, we did not cover well."

Germany left striker Lukas Podolski on the bench, but Loew gave defender Marvin Compper his debut as he became the first player from Hoffenheim, the surprise promoted team that is at the top of the Bundesliga, to play for Germany.

England's Gabriel Agbonlahor found an opening before the game was two minutes old, but goalkeeper Rene Adler made a great save with his foot. England exerted the early pressure but didn't create another chance until the goal.

The goal came shortly after the Germans had seemed to settle and had started passing the ball with more precision.

Upson prodded the ball home after Adler failed to get to it on the second of England's two successive corners.

The Germans began attacking with more determination and Piotr Trochowski's effort from a free kick had goalkeeper James stretching to tip the ball over. Soon after, Westermann's header sailed over the bar.

England should have made it 2-0 when Darren Bent beat an offside trap and rounded second-half substitute goalkeeper Tim Wiese, but the England striker put the ball wide of the empty net.

England was punished immediately. Capello had also changed 'keepers with Carson coming on for David James for his first cap since last year's costly blunder against Croatia in a game that eliminated England from qualifying for the European Championship.

Carson also played a role in Germany's goal. Terry tried to guard the ball for his 'keeper to collect but Carson was slightly late coming out. Helmes was lurking close, got around Terry and then poked the ball through Carson's legs to score into the empty net.

With heavy rain coming down, Carson was tested when he had to parry a long-range low shot by Marko Marin, one of the three German substitutions at halftime.

England winger Shaun Wright-Philips then hit the post from 20 yards out, with Wiese getting his fingertips on the ball.

With both teams looking for the winning goal, England scored when Terry's header beat Wiese.

"They were always dangerous in dead-ball situations," Loew said. "Our young players did not have the maturity to beat England today."