England finish with a flourish

England 6 Andorra 0:ENGLAND REFUSED to treat this a chore and made it a celebration of a fine year that leaves them three points short of qualification for the 2010 World Cup. By striking twice here, Wayne Rooney also utilised the occasion to equal Gary Lineker's 1991 tally of 10 England goals in a season. Peter Crouch, who endured frustration here, would also have rejoiced when capitalising on confusion to put the side 6-0 in front.

Although the opener, from Rooney, came as early as the fourth minute, the visitors had shown fortitude to get as far as that without harm. Ildefons Lima made a fine tackle to halt Steven Gerrard, while Rooney had seen an attempt tipped over and also struck the bar before he did score. After four minutes, Glen Johnson crossed deep and the Manchester United attacker headed home.

With that opener, he had taken nine goals from the last seven outings with England. Rooney would go on to improve those numbers.

If anyone was at all exasperated it might have been Peter Crouch, taking the centre-forward role while Emile Heskey had a night off. He should not have headed high from a David Beckham free-kick. The set-piece taker was enjoying a first competitive start for his country since June 2007

Andorra, it should be noted, has been a member of the United Nations since 1993. When it comes to statehood, England, like Scotland, England and Northern Ireland, is an element of the United Kingdom. If international law were the decisive factor, Andorra, despite being a micro country with a population of 75,000, would have had more right to participate in this match than England. On the pitch, of course, it was impossible for them to make it look as if they belonged at Wembley.

Frank Lampard notched the second goal following a cross from the eager Johnson in the 29th minute. Ten minutes later, the right-back centred and Rooney was the beneficiary as he slotted home.

Capello represents the boldest and costliest step yet to galvanise the national team and he has instilled a new thoroughness. It is no fault of Capello’s that he has so far had a single fixture of real prestige in which to demonstrate his impact. All the same, he had not been extended fully when winning the other five matches in the group. His mission now is to maintain animation and purpose all the way to the World Cup finals.

There was a certain cunning from Andorra in letting the second half start before, within two minutes, stopping it again by bringing on a substitute, as Marc Vales took over from Antonio Lima.

Capello’s changes had been made before the second half began. He would hardly have been expected to demand a full 90 minutes from leading players but the withdrawal of Rooney and Gerrard had a dampening effect for a while. By and large the crowd had been merry, with 57,897 people glad that they had gone to the trouble of getting to Wembley when London Underground was affected by a strike.

Jermain Defoe, who had taken over from Rooney, could not initially demonstrate the hunger of a habitual scorer, but he did not fail when meeting a chip from Johnson to head in England’s fourth. He pounced again to slot home a loose ball for his second.

Crouch must have despaired of seeing his endeavour make any impact. Little had gone his way and he simply got in the way when a Walcott drive cannoned off the Portsmouth attacker. Others had small regrets, too, with John Terry heading wide from a corner by Beckham, who played the full 90 minutes.

ENGLAND: Green; Johnson, Lescott, Terry, Cole (Bridge, 63 mins); Walcott, Beckham, Gerrard (Young, 46 mins), Lampard; Crouch, Rooney (Defoe, 46 mins).

ANDORRA: Alvarez (Gomes, 89 mins); Garcia, Sonejee, Lima (Vales, 47 mins), Lima; Ayala, Andorra, Jimenez, Moreno, Vieira; Silva (Fernandez, 78 mins).

Referee: Bas Nijhuis (Netherlands)