Theo’s treble

The 19-year-old had become the contemporary version of Michael Owen, ending the seven-year vigil for a hat-trick by an England player in a competitive match, writes Kevin McCarra.

The sheer joy was mightier than even the achievement of wrecking Croatia’s proud unbeaten record of 35 qualifying matches at home. With Theo Walcott’s first goals for his country packaged as a hat-trick, this was the most uncanny result for England since the 5-1 trouncing of Germany in 2001. In his first fixture of genuine significance, Fabio Capello has awakened immense expectations. Perhaps he is also the man to meet them.

Croatia were left short-staffed by a red card for Robert Kovac in the 51st minute, when England were only one ahead, but his offence was born of an inability to cope with these piratical visitors. His elbow to the head of Joe Cole left the Chelsea midfielder so bloodied and dazed that he had to be replaced by Jermaine Jenas. The damage done to Croatia in their World Cup campaign will take far longer to heal.

They enjoyed nothing more than an irrelevant goal from Mario Mandzukic and even that was not permitted to go unpunished. Within four minutes Wayne Rooney was sending Walcott through to roll home his third goal and complete the scoring. The 19-year-old had become the contemporary version of Michael Owen on that occasion in Munich, ending the seven-year vigil for a hat-trick by an England player in a competitive match.

How foolish it now seems that there was questioning of Capello’s decision that Owen, in semi-fit condition for Newcastle United, would not be required in Zagreb. Who supposed that Rooney would find the net again for his country after 11 months of frustration?

Capello will hear only praise, but he is unlikely to dwell on it. England, after all, did not proceed from Munich to lift the World Cup. With this outcome he has simply done the maximum possible so far.

His legend was not in particular need of burnishing but Walcott’s goals make the Italian look a magus of a manager for England, although it is the skills of players that are truly decisive. There were confident showings in all areas of the team, with the centre-backs Rio Ferdinand and John Terry, for instance, authoritative under pressure.

It is goals that hold the richest promise of fulfilment. Walcott put England in front although the opportunity had its random element, with Danijel Pranjic clearing a Rooney pass and smacking the ball into the back of his team-mate Robert Kovac.

Possession dropped to Walcott and from a tight angle on the right the Arsenal player found the far corner. Soon he was learning that prominence has its unpleasant consequences as, seven minutes from half-time, Josip Simunic inflicted a professional foul for which he was booked.

The atmosphere at the Maksimir usually galvanises Croatia but that, of course, was an incentive to Capello. With this triumph his methods are beyond criticism, and his new team have already taken a long stride towards the 2010 World Cup.

In addition, victory was England’s settling of accounts with the sorrowful past. A 3-2 win for Croatia at Wembley 10 months ago barred them from Euro 2008.

Failure breeds instability and of Capello’s starting line-up here only Gareth Barry, Frank Lampard and Joe Cole had kicked off that night in November 2007.

The plan on the night of September 10 entailed the overriding of Capello’s natural conservatism, with Walcott continuing in place of David Beckham. Any reservations about the youngster’s ability to cover had been superseded by the conviction that his speed would unsettle Croatia, although the former captain did come on for a cameo and his 105th cap when the game had been won.

England, inevitably in a trying environment, were not uniformly efficient. Ashley Cole, for instance, was unsteady at the start and set-pieces spread panic.

After 13 minutes David James palmed a corner towards Vedran Corluka but his drive missed the target. With half an hour gone the goalkeeper flapped a free-kick to Mladen Petric only for the forward’s effort to rebound from Wes Brown.

Croatia’s difficulties were far more severe. Simunic was inexcusably spared a second yellow card after body-checking Rooney, but the leniency of the referee Michel Lubos turned out to have its limits. There was no option but to send off Kovac for the elbow to the head of Cole.

Slaven Bilic’s side were outplayed and out of control. The second goal for Walcott, drilled with vast confidence from an angle on the right, was set up by Rooney after neat interplay with Emile Heskey, who guided the United man back to a more exuberant and influential level.

England, avoiding leniency against short-staffed opposition, struck again four minutes later. A Jenas cut-back was converted by Rooney.

Croatia, so often imperious here, were left with nothing more to do than strive for damage limitation. It was an extraordinary achievement by England. Afterwards, Capello was in a mood to consign it to the archives, but this rout ought to be a memory which will invigorate the squad.

Albania 3 (Bogdani 45, Duro 84, Dallku 89) bt Malta 0. Half-time: 1-0; Andorra 1 (Pujol 68-pen) lost to Belarus 3 (Verkhovtsov 37, Rodionov 79, Hleb 89). Half-time: 0-1; Azerbaijan 0 drew with Liechtenstein 0; Bosnia-Herzegovina 7 (Misimovic 25, 30-pen & 50, Muslimovic 52, Dzeko 54 & 72, Ibricic 88) bt Estonia 0. Half-time: 2-0; Croatia 1 (Mandzukic 78) lost to England 4 (Walcott 26, 59 & 82, Rooney 63). Half-time: 0-1; FYR Macedonia 1 (Pandev 77-pen) lost to Netherlands 2 (Heitinga 47, Van der Vaart 59). Half-time: 0-0; Faroe Islands 0 lost to Romania 1 (Cocis 59). Half-time: 0-0; Finland 3 (Johansson 33, Vayrynen 43, Sjolund 53) drew with Germany 3 (Klose 38, 45 & 83). Half-time: 2-2; France 2 (Henry 54, Anelka 64) bt Serbia 1 (Ivanovic 76). Half-time: 0-0; Iceland 1 (Gudjohnsen 77-pen) lost to Scotland 2 (Broadfoot 18, Robson 59). Half-time: 0-1; Italy 2 (De Rossi 17 & 89) bt Georgia 0. Half-time: 1-0; Kazakhstan 1 (Ostapenko 70) lost to Ukraine 3 (Nazarenko 45 & 82, Shevchenko 53). Half-time: 0-1; Latvia 0 lost to Greece 2 (Gekas 10 & 49). Half-time: 0-1; Lithuania 2 (Danilevicius 53 & 58) bt Austria 0. Half-time: 0-0; Moldova 1 (Picusciac 1) lost to Israel 2 (Golan 40, Saban 45). Half-time: 1-2; Montenegro 0 drew with Rep. of Ireland 0; Northern Ireland 0 drew with Czech Republic 0; Portugal 2 (Nani 42, Deco 85-pen) lost to Denmark 3 (Bendtner 82, Poulsen 89, Jensen 90). Half-time: 1-0; Russia 2 (Pavlyuchenko 22-pen, Pogrebniak 81) bt Wales 1 (Ledley 67). Half-time: 1-0; San Marino 0 lost to Poland 2 (Smolarek 36, Lewandowski 68). Half-time: 0-1; Slovenia 2 (Novakovic 22 & 81) bt Slovakia 1 (Jakubko 83). Half-time: 1-0; Spain 4 (Capdevila 8, Villa 17 & 79, Senna 82) bt Armenia 0. Half-time: 2-0; Sweden 2 (Kallstrom 55, Holmen 65) bt Hungary 1 (Rudolf 90+3). Half-time: 0-0; Switzerland 1 (Nkufo 43) lost to Luxembourg 2 (Strasser 28, Leweck 86). Half-time: 1-1; Turkey 1 (Emre 75-pen) drew with Belgium 1 (Sonck 31). Half-time: 0-1.

September 6:

Albania 0 drew with Sweden 0; Andorra 0 lost to England 2 (J. Cole 49 & 55). Half-time: 0-0; Armenia 0 lost to Turkey 2 (Sanli 61, Senturk 77). Half-time: 0-0; Austria 3 (Janko 9, Aufhauser 42, Ivanschitz 73-pen) bt France 1 (Govou 61). Half-time: 2-0; Belgium 3 (Sonck 39 & 79, Defour 75) bt Estonia 2 (Zeniov 57, Oper 90). Half-time: 1-0; Croatia 3 (Kovac 13, Modric 35, Petric 79) bt Kazakhstan 0. Half-time: 2-0; Cyprus 1 (Aloneftis 28) lost to Italy 2 (Di Natale 8 & 90+2). Half-time: 1-1; FYR Macedonia 1 (Naumoski 5) bt Scotland 0. Half-time: 1-0; Georgia 1 (Kenia 90+2) lost to Rep. of Ireland 2 (Doyle 13, Whelan 70). Half-time: 0-1; Hungary 0 drew with Denmark 0; Israel 2 (Benayoun 73, Sahar 90) drew with Switzerland 2 (Yakin 45, Nkufo 56). Half-time: 0-1; Liechtenstein 0 lost to Germany 6 (Podolski 21 & 48, Rolfes 65, Schweinsteiger 66, Hitzlsperger 76, Westermann 87). Half-time: 0-1; Luxembourg 0 lost to Greece 3 (Torosidis 37, Gekas 45, Charisteas 77-pen). Half-time: 0-2; Malta 0 lost to Portugal 4 (Said 24-o.g., Hugo Almeida 61, Simao 71, Nani 78). Half-time: 0-1; Moldova 1 (Alexeev 76) lost to Latvia 2 (Karlsons 8, Astafjevs 22). Half-time: 0-2; Montenegro 2 (Vucinic 62, Jovetic 82-pen) drew with Bulgaria 2 (Petrov 11, Georgiev 90). Half-time: 0-1; Norway 2 (Iversen 36-pen & 50) drew with Iceland 2 (Helguson 39, Gudjohnsen 68). Half-time: 1-1; Poland 1 (Zewlakow 17-pen) drew with Slovenia 1 (Dedic 35). Half-time: 1-1; Romania 0 lost to Lithuania 3 (Stankevicius 31, Mikoliunas 69, Kalonas 87). Half-time: 0-1; Serbia 2 (Jacobsen 29-o.g., Zigic 87) bt Faroe Islands 0. Half-time: 1-0; Slovakia 2 (Skrtel 46, Hamsik 70) bt Northern Ireland 1 (Durica 81-o.g.). Half-time: 0-0; Spain 1 (Villa 58) bt Bosnia-Herzegovina 0. Half-time: 0-0; Ukraine 1 (Shevchenko 90+3-pen) bt Belarus 0. Half-time: 0-0; Wales 1 (Vokes 83) bt Azerbaijan 0. Half-time: 0-0; Netherlands 1 (Huntelaar 6) lost to Australia 2 (Kewell 45+2-pen, Kennedy 76). Half-time: 1-1.