Match Summary

Belarus Team

England Team

Four wins out of four and another excellent performance by England as they take control of their World Cup group.  It was always going to be a tricky fixture in Minsk, but Fabio Capello's methods are now getting through to his charges and the two star players, Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney certainly enhanced their reputations with fine games here.

The team made a good, positive start to the match and within eleven minutes were a goal up.  Gerrard, given more freedom to attack in this game, spotted Rooney holding the ball off expertly, moved forward to support him and when the pass came the Liverpool player drilled a 25 yard shot past the goalkeeper.  It was a fine goal and a deserved reward for a lively start by England.  They could have gone two up when Rooney headed Emile Heskey's cross into the side netting.  But the extra freedom for Gerrard to attack did not come without its problems as Wayne Bridge found out.  He was left exposed with a left-sided midfield covering player missing, Gerrard in the wrong place at times.  Gareth Barry and Frank Lampard worked tirelessly to cover but Bridge was under pressure on more than one occasion.  This came to a head in the 28^th minute when Belarus scored an inevitable equaliser.

It came after a passage of play that had already seen the home side come close a couple of times, but when Igor Stasevitch turned Bridge inside out a left-wing cross came in.  Wes Brown and Theo Walcott messed up the marking and Pavel Sitko had an easy task to stoop to head past David James.  The equaliser was an annoying mistake by England but Belarus, no mean opponents, deserved that goal for a spirited fightback.  The move that led to the goal involved 23 passes as Belarus showed their silky skills to the full.

After the half-time break though England again asserted themselves, and within five minutes of the restart they regained the lead.  A throw-in by Bridge sent Heskey scampering powerfully down the left leaving two defenders in his wake.  When the cross came over there was Rooney to gleefully tuck the ball away.  This change of gear caught Belarus out and this time they had no answer as England comfortably controlled the match from then on.  Capello had switched Barry to the left in this half, with Gerrard and Lampard in the middle and Walcott on the right.  Later Wright-Phillips replaced Walcott with no apparent disruption to the system and on 74 minutes England made the game safe.

Again Bridge had a hand in the goal as Rooney dummied his pass and sped forward as Gerrard gained possession.  The pass from Gerrard to Rooney was brilliant, but the finish was even better.  Even though Rooney was under fierce pressure from the defenders, his technique, a clever feint and a cool finish showed just what a superb player he is.  Rooney is vital to England's future in this group, and if he can keep up this form there will be no stopping the Three Lions!

All the players did well on the night with Gerrard, Lampard and especially Rooney the pick of the bunch.  The only downside was that John Terry and Ashley Cole were missed in defence, but then any side would miss two players of that quality.

Source Notes

BBC Sport
TheFA.com
SkySports.com/football
UEFA.com
RateTheRef.com
Mike Payne - football historian and contributor
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CG