Crouch and Beckham make World Cup cases as England beat Belarus

Peter Crouch made his case for a World Cup starting place with two goals as England wrapped up their qualifying campaign with a 3-0 win over Belarus on Wednesday.

David Beckham, winning his 115th cap as a second-half substitute, and Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster, also bolstered their hopes of significant roles in South Africa as Fabio Capello’s side finished with nine wins out of ten in group six.

Crouch’s strikes, both close-range tap-ins, were not as impressive as Shaun Wright-Phillips drive on the hour mark. But there is no disputing the Tottenham striker’s knack of being in the right place when it matters.

In 35 international appearances he has now amassed 18 goals although Emile Heskey, who was not even on the bench here, remains the most effective foil for Wayne Rooney in the eyes of Capello.

Injury ensured neither Rooney nor Steven Gerrard were available and the final scoreline slightly flattered an experimental England line-up that never really built on a positive start to the match.

Wright-Phillips set the early tone by sending a low drive whistling inches wide and barely three minutes had elapsed when Crouch opened the scoring.

The impressive Gareth Barry’s ball through the inside left channel gave Gabriel Agbonlahar the chance to hit the byline and the resulting low cross was bundled into the net by Crouch, who had done well to get in front of his marker Sergei Sosnovsky.

The Tottenham forward did less well when heading Frank Lampard’s corner well wide on 15 minutes and Agbonlahor spurned an opportunity to open his international account after breaking clear on the right. Having failed to force the last defender to commit himself, the Aston Villa striker was unable to really test goalkeeper Yury Zhevnov from a tight angle.

Glen Johnson then demonstrated his attacking prowess, running on to Aaron Lennon’s throw into the box and sweeping past Sosnovsky, although the subsequent shot, sliced towards the far corner flag, was less impressive.

Up to that point, Capello must have been satisfied with what he had seen but the Italian’s mood on the touchline darkened as the first half progressed and England’s tempo and concentration levels dipped.

Johnson, in particular, blotted his copybook by allowing Vitaly Kutuzov to get in behind him in the penalty area before carelessly conceding possession with an overly ambitious crossfield pass.

Better opposition would have made more of both errors and England’s vulnerability at the back was underlined again when John Terry was forced to resort to shirt pulling to prevent Sergei Kornilenko from getting away from him.

The resulting free-kick led to Sergei Omelyanchuk presenting Foster with his first significant test and the Manchester United goalkeeper needed a second attempt to gather a drive that was struck with power but straight at him.

Foster looked more assured in taking Omelyanchuk’s swerving drive cleanly just short of the hour mark, by which time Lampard had had a dipping free-kick pushed over the bar and Beckham was preparing to make an entry that was greeted by the biggest cheer of the night.

The 34-year-old’s immediate impact on what was his 115th appearance for his country owed as much to his reputation as his technical prowess.

With the Belarus defence anticipating one of his inswinging corners from the left, they neglected to pay any attention to the unmarked Wright-Phillips.

Collecting Beckham’s short ball, the winger skipped past Belarus’s captain Aleksandr Kulchy and found the far corner of the net from the edge of the area.

Beckham had the crowd cheering again with a 40-yard pass onto the chest of Crouch. The striker was unable to make the most of a promising position on the edge of the area but Beckham had provided a reminder of why Capello looks likely to include him in his final 22.

Foster did his cause no harm with a solid near-post save to keep out Omelyanchuk’s close range drive at the end of the visitors’ best move of the night before Crouch gave the scoreline a slightly flattering alure by tapping in the loose ball after Zhevnov had failed to hold substitute Carlton Cole’s low drive.

Another substitute, James Milner, saw his shot come back off the inside of the post after a mazy run into the box and Beckham also hit the woodwork as England finished strongly.