Singing Rooney tunes

Croatia 2 England 4

Cometh the hour, cometh the boy.

Rooney struck twice for the second consecutive game, making him the tournament’s top scorer so far.

In leading his side to victory against Croatia, the 18-year-old striker also showed his maturity in avoiding the booking that would have ruled him out of an appetising clash against hosts Portugal.

Everton boss David Moyes will not know whether to cheer or cry, with a few more million pounds now added to his forward’s ever-increasing transfer fee.

While Rooney had endured a four day wait since his last England goal England’s other first-half scorer had waited rather longer to find the net.

It was June 6, 2001 that Paul Scholes last struck for his country, an incredible barren run that had encompassed 30 internationals.

However, he was on hand to enable England to recover from the early setback of Niko Kovac’s fifth-minute strike.

And with Frank Lampard rounding off the scoring late on despite a header by Igor Tudor, Sven-Goran Eriksson’s side duly passed this test of their resolve and quality with flying colours.

Indeed, with Rooney in this scintillating form, Eriksson will surely never have a better chance to overcome his World Cup nemesis, ‘Big Phil’ Scolari, Portugal’s Brazilian coach, than in Thursday’s last-eight clash.

While at the 2002 World Cup, England had rather tip-toed into the knock-out stages with a goalless draw in their final group game, this was a confident stride into the last eight.

It was also light years away from their early fall from grace at Euro 2000, when Kevin Keegan’s side fell victim to a late penalty by Romania.

Not that it had entirely started according to plan, with Croatia seizing the lead after just five minutes.

England failed to deal with a free-kick from Milan Rapaic and when David James could only parry Boris Zivkovic’s shot, Kovac reacted first to force the loose ball home.

England were stunned, as were their many thousands of fans, who again turned the Stadium of Light into a virtual home ground.

Indeed, after Scholes’ previous lack of confidence in front of goal had been illustrated shown by a shot too close to Tomislav Butina, they were guilty of pressing too hard, too quickly for an equaliser.

A team more adept at counter-attacking rather than forcing the pace, they found themselves under pressure from Croatia’s potency on the break as James saved from Tomo Sokota and then Dado Prso.

England nevertheless finally settled into a rhythm, albeit with space at a premium in the congested central midfield areas, and started to control the game.

Steven Gerrard duly switched roles with Scholes, pushing out to the left flank, and it was down that wing, especially due to the persistence of Ashley Cole, that England finally found a way through.

Frank Lampard’s chipped pass saw Michael Owen try to take on Butina and when the loose ball came to Rooney, his header found Scholes unmarked at the far post, where he stooped to conquer.

Once he had scored, Scholes moved back out to his left-sided outpost and England looked to stiffen their resolve ahead of the break.

Someone forgot to inform Rooney, however. For when Scholes fed the striker, his voracious appetite for goal took over and he launched a stinging drive just inside the post to put his side ahead.

England were just as buoyed up after the restart, with Scholes seemingly having shaken off all his pent-up frustration with that first-half goal.

Two long-range efforts were saved by Butina but both were struck with real conviction.

Owen, however, is not yet quite back to his true self and while he buzzed with far more menace than before, one lob just over the bar with only Butina to beat was not his normal assured finish.

Not that Croatia seemed entirely out of it, but that was reckoning without the intervention of Rooney, for whom even superlatives now seem entirely justified.

His strike partnership with Owen paid dividends as the Liverpool striker played him through, but there was never a second’s doubt that Rooney would finish with aplomb.

Eriksson acted swiftly to remove not only Rooney but also Scholes, who was similarly a yellow card away from being suspended for the quarter-finals.

He brought on Darius Vassell, up front, and Ledley King into midfield, but England were still undone as Tudor headed home a free-kick with 17 minutes left.

Croatia needed two to eliminate England, yet France’s victory against the Swiss meant that top spot was denied to Eriksson’s side.

No matter. After Gerrard had been denied by Butina, Lampard nimbly skipped through the Croatia defence to bury his shot with assurance. Portugal beware.

CROATIA: Butina, Simic (Srna 67), Robert Kovac (Mornar 45), Simunic, Zivkovic, Rosso, Tudor, Nico Kovac, Rapaic (Olic 55), Prso, Sokota.

ENGLAND: James, Gary Neville, Terry, Campbell, Ashley Cole, Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard (Phil Neville 84), Scholes (King 70), Owen, Rooney (Vassell 72).

Referee: Pierluigi Collina (Italy).