Egypt were superior to England early on and took a deserved 23rd-minute lead through Mohamed Zidan.
They slumped in the second half though as the hosts replied with two goals from Peter Crouch and one by fellow substitute Shaun Wright-Phillips.
"Egypt are a very good team and played very well in the first half -- I learned a lot from them," the Italian told reporters.
"The north African style is different to the way teams from central Africa or southern Africa play and that is exactly the way I expect Algeria will play -- high tempo, great technique.
"I think though that Egypt might have run too much in the first half and they tired in the second."
"We created four chances in the first half and (Jermain) Defoe could have scored two goals so I was pleased with the first half even though we were losing," said the Italian after Crouch came on for his Spurs team mate.
Capello also thanked the crowd for their support of John Terry, who he stripped of the captaincy after media reports of the defender's private life.
"I really thank the crowd for supporting him," said Capello. "It was a very important game for him after what happened to him off the pitch and he had a fantastic game.
"He is very important to us but I knew that when I made him captain in the first place."
Steven Gerrard, skipper for the night in place of the injured Rio Ferdinand, said Egypt made things tough. "They played very well in the first half but we showed good character and great togetherness to go on and win it," he said.
"We pressed a lot better in the second half and we won the ball further up and were a lot more dangerous going forward."
