World Cup qual. - Rooney leads England to victory

Eurosport - Thu, 16 Oct 13:21:00 2008

Wayne Rooney scored a second-half brace as England made it four wins out of four in World Cup qualifying Group 6 with a 3-1 victory in Belarus.

FOOTBALL England celebrate v Belarus 2008 - 0

Steven Gerrard had given Fabio Capello's side an early lead in Minsk only for Pavel Sitko to equalise for the hosts midway through the first-half.

But Rooney poked home Emile Heskey's cross from the left, five minutes after the break, and then added a superb third after latching on to a Gerrard pass and finishing with aplomb.

For the second time in four days, England had produced a tepid opening 45 minutes.

The visitors had shown early promise with Rooney just inches away from prodding home a Theo Walcott cross from the right before the under-fire Gerrard gave England the lead with a goal reminiscent of so many he has scored for Liverpool.

The ball fell to the midfielder 25 yards out and he curled his shot past diving keeper Yury Zhevnov and into the bottom corner of the net.

Gerrard shot narrowly wide from long distance shortly after but the hosts had already signalled their intent with David James having to save a couple of fierce Dmitry Molosh efforts.

The Portsmouth keeper then had to deny Sitko and Vitali Kutusov before Bernd Stange's side got just rewards for their efforts.

Ihar Stasevich bought himself some time on the right-hand side of the penalty area with a neat trick to evade Wayne Bridge and his cross found Sitko who was left completely unmarked in the middle of the box to power a header past James.

England responded and Emile Heskey should have ended his international goal drought when he headed Frank Lampard's corner wide from close range and the Chelsea man - who was earlier the victim of a horror tackle by Anton Putsilo that should have earned the Belarus midfielder a red card - had a low drive well saved by Zhevnov.

Walcott, who failed to track Sitko for the goal, then had a shot saved by Zhevnov to conclude the opening period.

England came out after the interval a far better outfit and Rooney beat two men with a great run only to see his attempted curler into the bottom corner held by Zhevnov.

But he did strike shortly after as Heskey was afforded far too much space down the left and his cross was neatly poked home by the Manchester United striker from close range.

Capello replaced the ineffective Walcott and the tireless Heskey with Shaun Wright-Phillips and Peter Crouch respectively midway through the second-half and Rooney sealed the points with 16 minutes to go.

Rooney stepped over an infield pass from Bridge and then collected a crisp pass from Gerrard before drawing the defender into a challenge and lifting the ball over Zhevnov.

It took the 23-year-old's goal tally to five in the qualifying campaign and settled English nerves.

Gerrard should have added some gloss to the scoreline when he contrived to hit the post with the goal at his mercy late on but Capello will be delighted that his side continued their 100% start to the qualifying campaign and they lead the group by five points going into April's match with Ukraine at Wembley.

Croatia 4-0 Andorra

Two goals in each half gave Croatia a comfortable victory over Andorra in the other Group 6 game.

Tthe scoring was opened by midfielder Ivan Rakitic's superb 20-yard free-kick in the 16th minute.

Luka Modric had a 32nd-minute penalty saved by Jesus Alvarez after Victor Rodriguez's foul, but Ivica Olic slotted home the rebound to make it 2-0 at the break.

Modric poached a deflected cross from just inside the box to score the third on 75 minutes while Rakitic added his second from the penalty spot three minutes from time after Ildefons Lima's late tackle on Mario Mandzukic.

Lee Walker & / Reuters

Comment 215 - 234 of 234

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  1. 4 out of 4 is pretty darn good I should say cos theres only one other 4/4 team- SPAIN and they are the EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS ok so get r done England

    From Andy B, on Tue 2 Dec 8:32PM

  2. FABIO CAPELLO ENGLAND
    GIOVANNI TRAPATTONI IRELAND
    MARCELLO LIPPI ITALY

    THE ITALIAN DO IT BETTER!!!!!

    FORZA ITALIA WORLD CHAMPION GERMANY 2006

    From maxterzo, on Fri 17 Oct 10:07AM

  3. terrance P you are a dreamer....what with the photo of you in a racing car?????? @#$%!

    From holliemelissa08, on Fri 17 Oct 8:48AM

  4. england are rubbish and thats coming from an english suppoeter.....over rated and as always everyone getting their hopes up.....watch this space....they might qualify but they aint gonna win......england are rubbish!!

    From holliemelissa08, on Fri 17 Oct 8:47AM

  5. In the US, we're behind our team even if they lose to Trinidad & Tobago... Maybe its because the club scene isn't such a huge deal here.

    From E, on Fri 17 Oct 12:32AM

  6. Football stinks of boo.

    From e=mc squared, on Thu 16 Oct 11:23PM

  7. Good on you lads! But remember we didn't even QUALIFY for the European championships so I am not celebrating yet

    From Rob J, on Thu 16 Oct 8:56PM

  8. Good start to the campaign yet LETS NOT get ahead of ourselves people because when it comes to these teams coming to Wembley then it might be a whole different ball game, especially with the 'intimidating atmosphere' that england might expect one mistake and it will be magnified a trillion times, the key teams to watch out for will again be Croatia,Ukraine (who come up next) and Belarus, hopefully it won't be an issue to knock these teams out at wembley but ANYTHING could happen...Next months test against the Germans should be a good indicator as to how far the team have come, against Klose and the crew..and then followed up by the european champions Spain....speakin of which, Even though Capello has no problems with playing in racist city that is madrid, if Cappello was Black or Asian (That will be the day when England EVER get a black or asian manager, for some people SKIN COLOUR does matter, just take a look at the US President race..) then he would perhaps be able to identify with the racism more, but because he has not had 1st hand experience of it then I suppose for him it is not a problem playin in Madrid! Italy Spain Croatia have the racism problem, any others to add to the list?

    From Raaj, on Thu 16 Oct 7:33PM

  9. I dont understand you England fans that are moaning about your team! I am Scottish and follow Scotland through the good and bad times. Yet England are sitting top of their group with 4 wins out of 4, 3 of which were away fom home and included a very impressive result away to Croatia - where they have one of the best home records in Europe but still some fans criticise the England team. Yeah England are maybe starting slow in the 1st half but at least they end the match with a win which is the most important thing!

    From john.angie@..., on Thu 16 Oct 6:18PM

  10. What's with all the moaning? England played well, they are sitting pretty at the top of the group with 4 wins out of 4. The media has attempted to brainwash us England fans, especially Jeff Powell of the Daily Mail. All he does is moan even if we've played well. ENGLAND ARE IN EXCELLENT FORM!

    From Will T, on Thu 16 Oct 5:47PM

  11. england is nothing but 11 headless chickens who were taught how to kick the ball around the field by their grandpas who took part in the world war.so if u r an english fool u r lucky u r playing teams with only one leg.roy king european brazil, PORTUGAL FAN

    From roykitur@..., on Thu 16 Oct 11:03AM

  12. orange2tuf - you are a blithering idiot - go away and come back later when mummy and daddy know you are using their PC. Grow up you moron!

    From John, on Thu 16 Oct 10:51AM

  13. Capello's England is a total contrast to McDoughnut's England and 4 wins out of 4 shows that. Can't wait to do the double over the racist former Nazi puppet state of Croatia at Wembley..ok Orange.

    From JOANNE, on Thu 16 Oct 10:18AM

  14. BRAVO!BRAVO!BRAVO!now you do things like real english.The technical team should
    double up to achieve more victory
    From mudayh

    From muday, on Thu 16 Oct 10:18AM

  15. dwayneharding is obviously one of the statistics of people currently unemployed angry lonely and desperate to release the tension, my friend thats what redtube is for now you clearly no nothing about football so go get a job!!!

    From cmargiotta7, on Thu 16 Oct 10:12AM

  16. big kahuna

    ranking is a load of @#$%

    croatia better than us because of one years results?
    we have spanked them for years before that.
    ukraine arent worth rank 19 either
    i think we are probably about 8-10th in world as usual.
    the rankings include friendlies............how stupid is that?
    we have qualified for 6 out of last 7 world cups
    only germany/italy/spain of europeans have qualified for all 7

    we arent bad.....we are just not that good either.
    still too many weak links..........@#$% goalkeeper,centre halves arent as good as they are made out to be,full backs with only one foot,too many similar players in midfield,no left winger of note.
    otherwise we are ok!
    just support them.
    if you are english,support them or f@ck off

    From geordieprince1, on Thu 16 Oct 9:53AM

  17. go go go england

    From adebiyi, on Thu 16 Oct 9:48AM

  18. IS IT HALF TERM OR IS DWAYNEHARDING PLAYING TRUANT? MORE LIKELY HE IS FROM THE SHCOOL FOR MENTALLY RETARDED AND JUST LIKES TO SEE HIS NAME IN PRINT. @rsehole.

    From Terence P, on Thu 16 Oct 9:48AM

  19. Oh did England play last night ? I finally got SKY because I wanted to watch football on the TV & now if I want to watch England I'll have to get f*****g Setanta as well & from all accounts it's @#$% coverage anyway . nightmare !!

    From astonbilla, on Thu 16 Oct 9:44AM

  20. I am attracted to quality leadership be it in sports, politics, military etc. Cappello has proven to be an outstanding Soccer Coach, taking the Three Lions of England forward. Hat Off for you, my dear Fabio Capello.

    From SITU, on Thu 16 Oct 9:19AM
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