Peter Crouch continues to torment opponents and should be an asset for Fabio Capello's England in next year's World Cup finals in South Africa. The lanky striker's latest contribution to the national team came when he scored a brace against Belarus at Wembley last month.

Crouch played for Queen's Park Rangers, Portsmouth, Aston Villa, Southampton, Liverpool and Portsmouth before joining Tottenham last summer. He made his England debut under Sven-Goran Eriksson on May 31, 2005 in the 3-0 friendly victory over Colombia in New Jersey, US.

Crouch's first goal arrived on March 1, 2006 in a friendly match against Uruguay at Anfield, where England won 2-1. His record of 16 goals in 17 starts, an impressive average for a striker, continues as follows:

Jamaica (Old Trafford) Friendly 6-0 − netted a hat-trick.

Trinidad (Nuremberg) World Cup finals 2-0.

Under Steve McClaren

Greece (Old Trafford) Friendly 4-0 − scored twice.

Andorra (Old Trafford) European Championship qualifier 5-0 − netted twice.

Macedonia (Skopje) European Championship qualifier 1-0.

Estonia (Tallinn) European Championship qualifier 3-0.

Austria (Vienna) Friendly 1-0.

Croatia (Wembley) European Championship qualifier 2-3.

Under Fabio Capello

Ukraine (Wembley) World Cup qualifier 2-1.

Belarus (Wembley) World Cup qualifier 3-0 − netted twice.

Crouch scored two more goals for England when he came on as a substitute:

Hungary (Old Trafford) Friendly 3-1.

Andorra (Wembley) World Cup qualifier 6-0.

Other items of interest for October read:

• In the group phase of the Europa League, Everton topple Bate of Belarus 2-1 away. Other results: Celtic-Rapid Vienna 1-1, Fulham-Basel 1-0.

• Manchester United's Alex Ferguson and Fernando Torres of Liverpool are named manager and player of the month.

• Portsmouth appoint Avram Grant as new director of football. The Israeli was technical director at Fratton Park from June 2006 to July 2007.

• England beat Macedonia 6-3 (Hines 2, Gibbs, Richards, Carroll 2) at Coventry in an U-21 European Championship qualifier. Ireland draw 1-1 at home to Georgia.

Down in Dnipro

• Fabio Capello's England suffer their first World Cup qualification defeat, 0-1 in Ukraine (Dnipro). Goalkeeper Robert Green is sent off after a professional foul. Other outcomes: Finland-Wales 2-1, Ireland-Italy 2-2; Scotland lose 0-2 in a friendly in Japan.

• In European U-21 championship qualification matches, Scotland defeat Belarus 1-0 at home and Wales dismiss Bosnia 2-0 in front of their own fans. Other results: Ireland-Switzerland 1-1, Iceland-Northern Ireland 2-1.

• In their final World Cup qualifier, England, who had already booked their place in the finals, record their ninth victory in 10 matches with a 3-0 (Crouch 2, Wright-Phillips) thumping of Belarus. The other British nations fail to reach the finals although Ireland are still in with a chance. They will be involved in a play-off against France. The last internationals read: Czech Rep.-Northern Ireland 0-0, Liechtenstein-Wales 0-2, Ireland-Montenegro 0-0.

• Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger claims that referees should keep their distance from players and managers.

• In the third match from the Champions League group phase, Chelsea crush Atletico Madrid 4-0 at Stamford Bridge. Manchester United equal Ajax's away record run of 14 matches without defeat thanks to their 1-0 triumph away to CSKA Moscow. Other outcomes: Liverpool-Lyon 1-2, Rangers-Unirea 1-4, AZ Alkmaar-Arsenal 1-1.

• Championship side Middlesbrough sack manager Gareth Southgate.

• A bad night for British clubs in the Europa League group phase as Celtic go down 0-1 at home to Hamburg, Fulham draw 1-1 against Roma at Craven Cottage and Everton suffer a 5-0 hiding by Benfica at the Stadium of Light.

• The Premier League and Barclays agree a new three-year sponsorship deal worth £82.25m, up to the end of season 2012-13. The new contract represents an increase on the current £65.8m agreement.

• Middlesbrough appoint former Celtic boss Gordon Strachan as their new manager.

• Newcastle confirm Chris Hughton as manager.

• The Premier League bans Portsmouth from signing new players because of unpaid debts to other clubs.