Fabio Capello paid tribute to his England players following the 3-1 World Cup qualifying victory over Belarus.

England took the lead through Steven Gerrard early on but Belarus played their part in an entertaining first half and soon equalised.

Wayne Rooney made it 2-1 to the Three Lions in the 50th minute and the Manchester United striker then sealed the win with his second of the night.

A delighted Capello told Sky Sports News: "The players were fantastic. We suffered in the first half because Belarus are a good team but in the second half we played very well.

"We scored three goals and hit one post (Gerrard missed a late chance)."

Rooney praise

Capello singled out Rooney for special praise as he was impressed by the 22-year-old's overall display.

"I am very happy. It is a fantastic moment, not only for the goals that he scored but for his movement and everything that he did on the pitch."

England have won all four of their World Cup qualifiers and Capello is thrilled with the way the team is starting to play.

Asked how he had brought out the best in the players, the Italian said: "When we started I did a lot of experiments but after the victory over Croatia I think we have confidence.

"We have good players who can play together and that is the most important thing."

Wayne Rooney feels England are capable of going through their 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign with a 100 per cent record.

The Three Lions confirmed their best-ever start in World Cup qualifying with victory over Belarus in Minsk giving them their fourth successive win in Group 6.

Rooney was the star of the show in Minsk as he fired a second-half brace to help England to a 3-1 triumph after Steven Gerrard's opener had been levelled before the break.

The in-form Manchester United striker is now looking for England to seal their place in South Africa in style.

"It'd be nice to win all of them. I don't see any reason why not," he said.

"The two most difficult games - away in Croatia and Belarus - are out of the way and we've got maximum points from them.

"We're going into games now believing we can win them. We've got a lot of confidence."
Goals are flowing

Rooney is delighted with his own form which has seen him bag five goals in his last four games.

"Goals are going in for me and I'm really pleased. I work every day on my finishing and it's going well," he continued, acknowledging the work coach Fabio Capello has been doing with him.

"You can always improve, there are weaknesses there I can improve on. I've worked a lot with the manager on finishing since he's come over, it's starting to pay off on the pitch now which I'm happy about," he said.

"I believe I'm going to score in any game anyway. I'm a confident person and I'm delighted they are going in at the moment."

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u the fella who should check internet before replying
they are showing france vs argentina at 4am

Fabio Capello has sprung a few surprises yet again with his latest England squad for the forthcoming games against Slovakia and Ukraine.

Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster, Everton defender Leighton Baines and Tottenham duo Ledley King and Aaron Lennon have all received call-ups to the squad.

Foster has one England cap to his name, against Spain at Old Trafford in May 2006 while on loan at Watford, and has been rewarded for his Man of the Match display in the Carling Cup final penalty shoot-out win over Spurs.

Meanwhile Baines benefits from an injury to Wayne Bridge after receiving his first call-up to the senior squad, although he does have 16 England Under-21 caps to his name.

Lennon's dazzling form for Spurs down the right wing of late could see him start one of the two matches with Arsenal winger Theo Walcott left out due to injury.

Many believe that Tottenham skipper King would have amassed a lot more than his 19 caps to date had it not been for his horrific knee problems but he will be buoyed by the fact that his good form has not gone unnoticed.

Elsewhere Phil Jagielka and Carlton Cole keep their places from the Spain squad while David Beckham retains his place following some good displays for AC Milan.

England face Slovakia in a friendly at Wembley on Saturday 28th March before they host Ukraine on Wednesday 1st April in a World Cup qualifier.

Fabio Capello has again left out Michael Owen for England's friendly with Holland next week.

Although Owen has not featured for his country since the friendly defeat in

France nearly 18 months ago, it was thought his surprise summer switch to

Manchester United might earn him a return to international duty.

However, after watching Owen in action at Old Trafford on Wednesday night, when Owen drew a blank in United's 2-0 win over Valencia, Capello has left him out of his squad to face Holland in Amsterdam on Wednesday.

Instead, Owen's Red Devils team-mate Wayne Rooney is joined by Emile Heskey, Jermain Defoe and Carlton Cole to form a four-man English strikeforce.

That means there is also no place for Peter Crouch, even though the Tottenham new boy was part of the England side that overwhelmed Andorra on their last outing at Wembley.

The other surprise absentee is David James.

James has been regarded as Capello's first-choice goalkeeper and was expected to return after missing the World Cup wins against Kazakhstan and Andorra after undergoing shoulder surgery.

However, even though James was part of the Portsmouth side that tackled Rangers on Saturday afternoon, he is missing from the squad which instead includes Ben Foster, who also sat out the June double-header because of a thumb operation, along with Robert Green and Paul Robinson.

David Beckham will make the flight back from Los Angeles in order to take part, while James Milner gets a place in the senior ranks, although he seems unlikely to start in the Amsterdam Arena.

Full squad: Foster (Manchester United), Green (West Ham), Robinson (Blackburn); Bridge (Manchester City), A Cole (Chelsea), Ferdinand (Manchester United), Johnson (Liverpool), Lescott (Everton), Terry (Chelsea), Upson (West Ham); Barry (Manchester City), Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy), Carrick (Manchester United), Gerrard (Liverpool), Lampard (Chelsea), Milner (Aston Villa), Walcott (Arsenal), Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Young (Aston Villa); Cole (West Ham), Heskey (Aston Villa), Rooney (Manchester United), Defoe (Tottenham).

anyone can confirm what's the kickoff time? usually they have talks before kickoff. not bothered bout that so if anyone can confirm the kickoff time, id appreciate it very much.

Croatia striker Ivica Olic claims England are worried ahead of their crucial World Cup qualifier at Wembley.

The Three Lions are in pole position to qualify for next summer's finals with a 100 per cent record so far on the road to South Africa.

England face their nemesis Croatia at Wembley on Wednesday, a fixture they lost 3-2 in 2007 and a result that saw them miss out on Euro 2008.

Fabio Capello's men exacted revenge for the defeat with a 4-1 win in Zagreb earlier in the qualifying campaign for next summer's World Cup finals, although Olic believes the Wembley defeat is still at the front of many of the England players' minds.

The Bayern Munich striker is unhappy John Terry has publically criticised team-mate Eduardo and he insists Croatia will be out to repeat their shock Wembley success of two years ago.
Worried

"England seem worried about this match to me," he told the Daily Star.

"I really do not understand the attack of some players, especially Terry, about a companion like Eduardo.

"I do not think he is a diver. He got treated badly with his ban.

"Perhaps they still remember the defeat at Wembley in 2007 and suffer fear for Wednesday night.

"This is a clear psychological war, but the answer is to win in London.

Draw a result

"A draw would still be a good result for us, but we will not be too defensive and go for 0-0. That is not the way we play.

"It will be a tough atmosphere after what we did last time we were at Wembley.

"We still remember losing 4-1 last year, but we can't afford to worry about that too much.

"Our manager Slaven Bilic really wants us to win the game. He is confident we can do it again and we have to believe him."