Two second half goals from Wayne Rooney helped England register a valuable 3-1 away win over Belarus in the World Cup qualifier played in Minsk on Wednesday. An early Steven Gerrard strike opened the deadlock for the visitors before Pavel Sitko equalized for Belarus on the half hour mark. Rooney scored twice (50, 74) after the interval to maintain England's 100 % record of four wins out of four qualifiers. The home side started confidently but it was only eleven minutes before England showed they were no pushovers. Gerrard took full advantage of Rooney's lose ball to curl from outside the box. After the goal Belarus pushed for an equalizer, and David James had to be alert at the England end to keep out long range shots from Sitko and Dmitry Molosh. On 28 minutes, Belarus were rewarded for their efforts when Igor Stasevich's cross found Sitko unguarded behind the England defense and the latter headed home from close range. England looked a lot better in the second half, and after just five minutes Emile Heskey had a good run on the left flank before squaring to Rooney who slotted home with a cool finish. The Three Lions put the game beyond doubt fifteen minutes from time.
Croatia secured second qualifying win A nice passing work between Gerrard and Rooney released the Manchester United striker who yet again kept his nerve to ship past Dmitry Verkhovtsov. In the same qualifying group six, Croatia kept up the chase with England courtesy of a 4-0 home win over Andorra. Ivan Rakitic scored twice for Slaven Bilic's side while two goals from Luka Modric and Ivica Olic sealed the win for Croatia over Andorra's amateurs. The wins leave England and Croatia in first and second places with twelve and seven points respectively. In group 5, European champions Spain had to wait until the 88th minute to secure a 2-1 hard fought win in Belgium. The Belgians went one up after seven minutes through Wesley Sonck before Andres Iniesta levelled on 36 minutes. Belgium looked threatning in the second half but it was Spain who scored the winner in the dying minutes thanks to a David Villa header.
