IT WAS the night English football rediscovered its pride.
A night when Fabio Capello earned a huge chunk of his £6million-a-year salary with a 4-1 victory against Croatia in the Maksimir stadium in Zagreb.
A quite wonderful night when Theo Walcott showed the scampering way forward with a stunning hat-tr
ick which announced his arrival as an international game-breaker and effectively bade farewell to the career of David Beckham.
Walcott was sensational and if the world's top defenders had not heard of him before, then, be sure, they will take notice now.
Not since England beat Germany 5-1 in Munich back in 2001 have England performed with such authority and style.
Not since then have England's spectators, fans who had all but given up on their underachieving side, shouted and cheered in such jubilant fashion.
Where did it come from?
How was such an accomplished display conjured up by players who had taken 49 minutes to score a goal in a 2-0 victory against Andorra's insurance salesmen on Saturday?
Well, Capello's reputation as an accomplished coach has been built on delivering when it matters. And he gauged this tricky tie to perfection. Forget the five friendlies when he was learning the language as well as the intricacies of the players at his disposal. Forget that unconvincing victory against Andorra.
This triumph was down to the meticulous planning and the courage of Capello's game plan.
For banking on the pace of Walcott. Mostly, however, for getting England at last to play at the sort of tempo they do so often for their clubs – with high energy and huge workrate. And, even more importantly, it was a victory for organisation, the sort which was never there under Sven-Goran Eriksson or Steve McClaren.
At last, England looked like a team, rather than a rag-tag bunch of individuals, they had a game plan rather than one who had mocked up something in 10 minutes on the back of a cigarette packet.
The message was positive, even if the first goal, when it came in the 26th minute, was via a Croatian defensive mix-up.
The ball spun to Walcott whose first touch was sound and whose second sent the ball skidding low and true into the net.
It was no more than the 19-year-old Arsenal wide man deserved. No more than England deserved.
The worry was that fatigue might sabotage their challenge in the second. But there was a resilience and style to this performance.
A World Cup qualifier so many thought England might lose had turned into a triumphant stroll.
What a night!
The full article contains 448 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
