Jermain Defoe, Joe Cole and Wayne Rooney scored against the Platinum Stars in front of a small crowd in the town of Moruleng in North West province.
Only midfielder Joe Cole played the entire match as coach Fabio Capello made 10 changes at halftime. Only injured midfielder Gareth Barry and goalkeeper David James did not play any part in the game.
Rooney was one of the substitutes and his second-half booking for indicating to the referee that he required spectacles perfectly illustrated the team's frustrations at playing poorly just five days before meeting the Americans.
Cole was lively but England laboured throughout and struggled to retain possession even after increasing its tempo in the second half.
Capello used a 4-4-2 formation for a starting lineup that, save for Rooney's exclusion and the inclusion of 23-year-old Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart, could start in Rustenburg on Sunday morning (6.30am NZT).
Rooney is guaranteed to be in the team on Saturday, but Hart has never started a game for England.
John Terry and Ledley King started together in central defense, with the injured Rio Ferdinand watching from the sidelines.
"We understand each other's game really well and it was important that we got 45 minutes today in a real competitive game," Terry said.
England took just three minutes to go in front against the mid ranked South African Premier League side.
Shaun Wright-Phillips slipped a pass through to Steven Gerrard and Ferdinand's replacement as captain strolled down the right flank before pulling the ball back for Defoe to roll it into the net.
But three minutes later, England fullback Glen Johnson made the first mistake of an error-strewn 45 minutes when he bundled striker Mzikayise Mashaba over in the area to concede a penalty.
Bradley Grobler sent the kick over the bar and Johnson later missed a chance of his own.
Other players were similarly unimpressive.
Striker Peter Crouch missed the ball completely when Ashley Cole sent a neat cross, Wright-Phillips and Joe Cole misplaced crosses, and a midfield pair of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard was easily passed by the attacking home side.
Such was Capello's ire, the Italian had to be warned by the fourth official after straying from the technical area too many times.
Rooney went past two players in the 63rd minute and passed from the right for Joe Cole to knock the ball into the bottom right corner. He got on the score sheet himself with five minutes remaining when he sliced the ball into the net from James Milner's cross.
