Wayne Rooney revels in being the central attraction amid giddy heights

Getting into thick of things through the middle is working wonders for the Manchester United player, so look after him from now, Matt Dickinson says.

Fabio Capello hates complacency but last night he found himself leading a one-man crusade to stop Englishmen getting overexcited about the World Cup finals.

Actually, that’s not quite right. Emile Heskey did his bit for sobriety by tripping over his feet when he could have single-handedly won this game but this was the sort of occasion liable to turn a country giddy with thoughts of what might, just might, happen in South Africa next year.

It was so good that even Alan Shearer smiled, almost, up in the stands when Steven Gerrard rose to nod in his second and England’s wonderful fourth goal. It was news to most of Wembley that Shearer even had a smile.

Capello, being Capello, will not just have noted the imperfections but logged them for future dressing-downs with his players. Even amid the glee last night there was a bark at Gareth Barry for not being quick enough to close down his opponent. The manner of Croatia’s solitary goal will no doubt be pored over on video replays.

There will be a time soon enough, too, when the rest of us will have to remind ourselves of all the failings that require any sensible estimation to put England as probable quarter- finalists, possible semi-finalists and who knows what with a favourable wind. But this was a night to enjoy the best England performance at the new Wembley, the best anywhere for quite some time.

Gerrard left, quite rightly, to a standing ovation after a performance notable for more than his two headed goals. Frank Lampard excelled, while Aaron Lennon played so well that a place in the squad next summer is now his to lose over the next eight months.

Wayne Rooney might be said to have put in a less headline-grabbing performance but such was the swagger about him that, with qualification assured with two matches to go, one was tempted to kidnap him on his way out of Wembley and lock him somewhere safe between now and next June. Anything to ensure that he is not prone to the sort of metatarsal injury that curtailed his Euro 2004 when he limped off against Portugal and took England’s hopes with him.

Anything to make certain that he is not going into the tournament in South Africa so short of fitness that, frustrated, he kicks out into an opponent’s groin as he did in the 2006 World Cup finals.

Because while no player is bigger than the team, Rooney can give a pretty good impression when he is in the mood. It is not just his eight goals in qualifying — which became nine last night when he seized, almost laughing as he did so, upon the miskick by the poor Croatia goalkeeper and slid the ball into an empty net — but the manner in which he has blossomed into the playmaker’s role that was always going to be his true calling.

Some of his dazzle may have come from relief that he is not playing wide, as he has had to do so often for Manchester United in the past couple of seasons. For England, he has not been required to do the donkey-work for Cristiano Ronaldo. He is the main man. He will still track back, as he did last night almost to the corner flag even with England leading 2-0 and cruising. He has never shirked. But under Capello he has revelled in the chance to shape matches in a central, pivotal role.

Rooney’s goal was the final blow on a night when England recorded an eighth consecutive victory. In the recently published book, Why England Lose, the theory is put forward that a record in qualification is no pointer whatsoever to how a team will perform in the tournament. Perhaps that is born out by statistics, but far better to qualify like this than having to bite our nails as in years past.

In the last decade, we have endured the nauseatingly nervous play-off against Scotland under Kevin Keegan (Sol Campbell at right back, anyone?) to reach Euro 2000; David Beckham’s late, late free kick against Greece two years later; the chaos of the pre-match strike over Rio Ferdinand before we went to Istanbul. Even on the relatively straightforward road to the 2006 World Cup finals we hit the bump of a 1-0 defeat by Northern Ireland in Belfast, and Beckham being sent off against Austria on the day we qualified.

The assured nature of England’s progress, particularly given the fragile inheritance taken on by Capello, offers no guarantees but it must say something about where England are at as a team, about their development, about their state of mind. There are, as all those of us who have followed England for years will quickly acknowledge, all kinds of hurdles to cross before the tournament; the possibility of injuries to key players, loss of form.

But Capello will have to forgive us if, last night, we decided to say hell to the reservations, roll on the tournament. No one was saying that England were going to win the World Cup — but plenty of rivals were noting a 5-1 scoreline and saying they would rather avoid us in South Africa.