Sport & Fitness

After a run of friendlies in which England displayed considerably more shit than wit, manager Fabio Capello began the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign under a heavy weight of expectation. However, he was handed a lollipop with an opening match against an Andorra side incapable of advancing beyond halfway and Joe Cole's second-half goals secured an easy win. Four days later, the transformation was remarkable. Despite plenty of mind games from Slaven Bilic, England travelled to Zagreb for what was ostensibly their toughest assignment and thrashed Croatia 4-1. The only disappointment was that, with the match live on Setanta, so few got to see Theo Walcott's superb hat-trick and the kind of interplay with Lampard and Rooney that Capello must only have dreamed of. Kazakhstan beat Andorra 3-0 but that should be the limit of their achievements in a tough group. They then conceded three apiece to Croatia and Ukraine and saw coach Arno Pijpers sacked. Bernd Storck is caretaker of a squad with very little experience outside their homeland; England – and the fans – need to be patient as goals will surely come. Andrew Shields