The United States were allowed the luxury of plenty of possession, and England almost paid for their generosity when Landon Donovan's inviting cross was headed tamely wide by Altidore.
Milner, given his chance despite being laid low by illness in midweek, was off the pace and picked up a booking for fouling Steve Cherundolo before being replaced by Wright-Phillips on the half-hour.
England at least looked like holding their lead until the interval, before a moment of complete calamity engulfed Green. Dempsey's left-foot shot from 25 yards barely merited the label of speculative, but every aspect of Green's technique collapsed as he allowed the ball to squirm through his grasp and over the line.
To add to England's troubles, King failed to emerge after the break, being replaced by Carragher as Capello was forced into another change to his initial plans.
Heskey, having done so well to create Gerrard's goal, then demonstrated his lack of confidence in front of goal when he wasted a clear chance to restore England's lead after 52 minutes. Aaron Lennon put the striker through, but he never looked convincing and shot straight at Howard.
England, however, were not looking comfortable and Altidore illustrated the lack of pace at the back to give them a real scare in the 64th minute. He outpaced Carragher in comfort, but Green made some amends for his earlier mistake by turning his angled shot on to the post.
Rooney had been relatively quiet, but almost surprised Howard with a snapshot from long-range that flew just wide. He then set up Wright-Phillips, but his effort was too close to Howard.
England then ran out of ideas as they tired - leaving Bob Bradley's US side to celebrate a hard-earned point.
