England beat Belarus to round off qualifying campaign

Peter Crouch scored twice as England rounded off their World Cup qualifying campaign with a low-key 3-0 win over Belarus to make it nine wins from 10 in Group Six. Striker Crouch scuffed England in front after four minutes and poached a rebound 16...

Peter Crouch scored twice as England rounded off their World Cup qualifying campaign with a low-key 3-0 win over Belarus to make it nine wins from 10 in Group Six.

Striker Crouch scuffed England in front after four minutes and poached a rebound 16 minutes from time. Shaun Wright-Phillips, another player hoping to catch the eye of coach Fabio Capello, fired England's second on the hour.

Capello made six changes to the side that lost in Ukraine on Saturday, England's first competitive defeat under the Italian, with Crouch and Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor paired up front in the absence of Wayne Rooney and Emile Heskey.

While England were laboured at times, Crouch at least did his prospects of a place on the plane to South Africa no harm as he took his England tally to 18 goals in 35 appearances.

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