Rooney strikes twice to keep England on track

ROONEY DOUBLE: Man Utd and England forward Wayne Rooney (r) scored twice against Kazakhstan. (AFP)

Wayne Rooney scored twice as England kept their World Cup show on the road with a 5-1 Wembley win over Kazakhstan that was nothing like as convincing as the scoreline suggested.

After the euphoria generated by last month's 4-1 win in Croatia, Fabio Capello had been hoping to treat the Wembley crowd to a display that would silence the jeers that had marred his squad's three previous appearances in front of their own supporters.

Instead, England made their fans wait until seven minutes into the second half before Rio Ferdinand headed them into the lead against opponents featuring six players promoted from the under-21s with two full caps between them.

By that stage, England should have been behind and it required an own goal by defender Alexandr Kuchma to double their advantage.

Zhambyl Kukeyev's well-taken strike briefly gave the visitors hope before Rooney's double and a late strike from substitute Jermain Defoe put additional gloss on a performance England's players acknowledged could have been better.

Rooney said: "We knew we had to be patient, the chances would come and we would take them. We took them in the end and ended up with an easy victory.

"We know we can play better, but the result was the main thing - to get the points on the board. We're delighted with that."

Ferdinand added: "We would like to play better than we did today - especially in the first half - but we won 5-1. We've got three points on the board and we're pleased with that."

Capello, who revealed he was hopeful injured captain John Terry would be fit for Wednesday's match in Belarus, also delivered a mixed review of the performance.

"It is not easy to play against teams that are not so big and are always defending. It is not easy to find space and to give good passes but, sure, after 45 minutes I was not happy.

"I put Shaun Wright-Phillips on at half-time because I wanted to have more pace on the left and we switched to 4-4-2. That meant Rooney was much closer to Emile Heskey and he played very well."

Kazakhstan's German coach, Bernd Storck, admitted he had been happy to get to half-time on level terms.

"We did very well but we tired badly in the second half and that affected our concentration. We have to work on our endurance but still the result was harsh on my team."

England might have enjoyed a more straightforward evening if Heskey had been able to take a third-minute chance.

Set clear on the right by Wes Brown's dummy, Theo Walcott powered into the box before sending a low cross skidding across the goalmouth.

Sliding in at full-stretch at the back post, Heskey managed to get a boot to the ball but not the clean contact that would have directed it into an empty net.

On that evidence, Kazakhstan did not look like a side that would take long to dismantle but England's high-tempo start quickly gave way to the kind of lethargic display that had frustrated their fans in recent Wembley friendlies.

By the break, long-range efforts from Rooney, Walcott and Lampard were all that England had mustered in addition to the early opening, while the Kazakhs limited ambitions did not prevent them generating a couple of scares at the other end.

Both were the result of errors by Matthew Upson. The West Ham defender, drafted in to replace injured captain John Terry, twice allowed Tanat Nusserbayev to escape into threatening positions.

Although neither incident led to goalkeeper David James being tested, Capello was sufficiently unhappy with what he had seen to abandon his starting system at half-time, with Gareth Barry making way for Wright-Phillips.

It paid off quickly with the Manchester City man's deflected shot earning a corner that Lampard curled in for Ferdinand to head home for the opener.

The fist pumping celebration that followed from Ferdinand seemed out of place against such modest opponents, but the relief was understandable in light of the let-off England had enjoyed five minutes earlier, when Nusserbayev lifted a knockdown from Sergey Ostapenko over the bar from inside the six-yard box.

Even after going ahead, England were given another scare when Nusserbayev's drive slipped through James's gloves and spun inches wide.

Capello must have though England's work for the evening was largely over when, with 25 minutes left, Kuchma glanced Lampard's freekick past his own goalkeeper to double the hosts lead.

Instead, Ashley Cole gifted the Kazakhs the opportunity to score a goal away from home for the first time in eight matches with an astonishingly sloppy pass across the edge of his own area.

Kukeyev seized on the opportunity, gathering the ball on his chest before drilling a low drive past James.

Rooney made the points safe in the 77th minute with a textbook header from Wes Brown's cross before claiming his 17th international goal with a close-range finish after Upson had deflected substitute David Beckham's cross into his path.

Defoe applied the finishing touch and gave England's goal difference figures a welcome boost -- but Belarus on Wednesday will provide a significantly sterner test.

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