England faced uncertainty off the pitch and more questions on it as the Czech Republic taught it a lesson at Wembley before the home side was rescued with a stoppage-time equaliser.
As Brian Barwick's future as Football Association chief executive was put in the spotlight, the man he appointed as England boss, Fabio Capello, saw his team fall behind twice between Wes Brown's first international goal.
Milan Baros, so frustrating for Liverpool and Portsmouth, opened the scoring midway through the first half, then Marek Jankulovski curled in a free-kick just after the break after Brown's header.
Defeat looked likely until Joe Cole, introduced as a second-half substitute, bundled the ball in despite the efforts of Jan Rajnoch on the line.
Never mind the chaos behind the scenes at Soho Square, Capello goes into next month's qualifiers against Andorra and Croatia on the back of victories over Switzerland, USA and Trinidad and Tobago, defeat to France and this unconvincing draw.
The honeymoon period is well and truly over.
Capello had told his players that it was time to deliver, and that the experimenting was over after last season's matches - with that in mind it is clear that Wayne Rooney is preferred as a foil to an out-and-out striker.
Jermain Defoe in the first half, then Emile Heskey in the second, partnered the Manchester United forward in a fluid formation that allowed Rooney to drop deep but also played into the hands of the visitors.
They kept the ball better than the hosts and frustrated Capello's forward line when defending.
Scotland warmed up for next month's two World Cup qualifiers against Macedonia and Iceland with a scoreless draw against Northern Ireland.
A red card for Ryan McGivern should have aided Scotland's cause but it was the Irish who were unfortunate not to claim a winner at Hampden when David Healy failed to convert from the penalty spot.
A last-gasp goal to substitute Beka Gotsiridze gave Georgia an emotional 2-1 win over Wales at Liberty Stadium.
Italy's World Cup winning coach Marcello Lippi declared himself happy with his return to the helm of the Azzurri despite being held to a 2-2 draw against Austria on Wednesday.
Two second-half goals saw the world champions recover from a two-goal deficit to extend Lippi's unbeaten run as coach of Italy to 26 games.
Euro 2008 quarter-finalists Croatia twice came from behind to beat neighbours Slovenia 3-2 to end its preparations ahead of the World Cup qualification campaign on a high note.
Switzerland was also on the right end of a five-goal thriller as it beat Cyprus 4-1 in Ottmar Hitzfeld's first game in charge.
Two goals from Liverpool's Xabi Alonso and a Xavi strike saw European Champions Spain beat Denmark 3-0 in Vicente del Bosque's first game at the helm, while Leverkusen forward Fanis Gekas scored a brace Greece beat Slovakia 2-0.
New Portugal boss Carlos Queiroz got off to a good start as a late flurry of goals gave his side a 5-0 win over the Faroe Islands.
Another new coach, Bert Van Marwijk, began his reign in charge of Holland with a 1-1 draw as his side were held by Russia.
France fared better as it overcame Sweden 3-2.
Germany beat Belgium 2-0 in its first outing since losing to Spain in the European Championships final.
In the evening's other games Romania overcame Latvia 1-0, Bulgaria beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-1 and Hamit Altintop scored the