Croatia 1-4 England
2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifier
Group Six
8pm, Wednesday 10 September 2008
Maksimir Stadium, Zagreb
Live on Setanta Sports 1
Wayne Rooney has paid tribute to Theo Walcott's performance against Croatia and says the winger's remarkable pace makes life easier for the whole team.
Rooney produced one of his best ever displays in an England shirt as he scored one goal and set up three in a fantastic 4-1 victory for the Three Lions in Zagreb.
But even the Manchester United star had to play second fiddle to hat-trick hero Walcott when it came to this morning headlines - and he doesn't begrudge it one bit.
“Theo showed glimpses against Andorra of what he can do and against Croatia he did really well, he deserved his three goals. I’m very pleased for him," said Rooney.
“I think he brings a lot of pace to the team, he’s very quick. He keeps the defence on the back foot and opens up the game for the midfield players and the forwards. That’s the main thing, the pace he’s got – he likes to get behind defences. He’s done really well and hopefully he’ll continue that for us."
The result leaves England in pole position in Group 6 and boosts their chances of qualifying for the World Cup Finals in South Africa in 2010, having missed out on Euro 2008.
Rooney concluded: “It’s a great start six points from six. Now we want to make that record even better. There’s still a lot of work to do but we hope to continue it.
"We prepared the best we can for this match and it meant more after what happened in the last campaign. So overall it was a good result. Losing last time didn’t just hurt myself it hurt the team and the whole of England. This result has softened the blow a little bit."
England
1 David James, 2 Wes Brown, 3 Ashley Cole, 4 Gareth Barry, 5 Rio Ferdinand, 6 John Terry (14 Matthew Upson, 89), 7 Theo Walcott (17 David Beckham, 86) 8 Frank Lampard, 9 Emile Heskey, 10 Wayne Rooney, 11 Joe Cole (16 Jermaine Jenas, 51)
Goals
Walcott 26, 59, 82, Rooney 63
Substitutes 12 Paul Robinson, 13 Glen Johnson, 15 Stewart Downing, 18 Jermain Defoe
Manager
Fabio Capello
Croatia
1 Stipe Pletikosa, 3 Josip Simunic, 4 Robert Kovac, 5 Vedran Corluka, 6 Danijel Pranjic, 7 Ivan Rakitic, 9 Mladen Petric, 10 Niko Kovac (c), 11 Darijo Srna, 14 Luka Modric, 18 Ivica Olic (8 Mario Mandzukic, 73)
Goals
Mandzukic 78
Substitutes
12 Vedran Runje, 2 Ivica Krizanac, 13 Nikola Pokrivac, 15 Dario Knezevic, 16 Jerko Leko, 17 Ivan Klasnic
Manager
Slaven Bilic
Match Officials
Referee Lubos Michel (Slovakia)
Assistant Referees Martin Balko and Roman Csabay (Slovakia)
Team colours
Croatia
Blue shirts, blue shorts, blue socks
England
White shirts, white shorts, white socks
GK: Sky blue shirt, navy blue shorts, sky blue socks