Match report: England v Belarus.

Dupin witnessed a valedictory stroll in the bowl for England as they completed their World Cup qualifying campaign with a 3-0 victory over Belarus and was as pleased as the teenyboppers to get in a half-hour of David Beckham, in what is likely to be his final competitive appearance at the national stadium.

This was my first new Wembley experience and I was suitably impressed - there are few things as awesome as a well-realised large-scale engineering project. On a clear day, you can see the signature architectural feature of the grand roof-supporting arch from where I live, on the North Downs in Surrey, and it gets more spectacular the closer you get. The stadium itself is second only in Europe to Barcelona’s Camp Nou in capacity at 90,000, every seat is covered and, thanks to the arch, there’s not a supporting pillar in sight.

After losing out on the chance of a perfect ten out of ten wins in qualification with Saturday’s defeat in the Ukraine, England played their Eastern European neighbours, Belarus, in the final qualifier, a chance to see some of the understudies stake an early claim for a place in the World Cup finals squad.

The bad news for the spectators was that England’s two best players, Gerrard and Rooney were both out injured as was Belarus star, and former Gunner, Alexander Hleb, ‘Zauberlehrling’  (wizard’s apprentice), as he’s known in the Bundesliga. Capello, semi-forced into trying out his Plan B, opted for Man United’s Ben Foster between the sticks and Wayne Bridge at left back; elsewhere, Barry came in for Carrick, we had the wee men Shaun Wright-Phillips and Aaron Lennon on the wings and probably the strangest strikeforce the national team has ever fielded, in Peter Crouch and Gabriel Agbonlahor, the Villa speedster.

England made a forceful start, a decent early effort from Wright-Phillips was followed in the 4th minute by a goal from Peter Crouch, who slightly surprisingly managed to do the “fox in the box” thing and poke in a centre from Agbonlahor, who had found space on the left wing.

Belarus, ranked 77th in the world, didn’t have any household names but were clearly a decent “technical” team. The captain, 35 year-old Alexander Kulchy, and Omelyanchuk were the pivotal figures as they played in some neat and tidy triangles, without really having the necessary oomph to trouble England’s strong defence on more than a couple of occasions throughout the game.

The bright start faded and the hiatus resulting from the Belarus ‘keeper being almost comically poleaxed in the 18th minute led the fans to start up that sure sign of boredom, the Mexican Wave, and we had the tedious "Ing-gland" drum tattoo to boot. Back on the pitch, Barry showed some nice touches in midfield, Crouch was working hard up front but Lennon and Wright-Phillips were being channelled inside rather than using the flanks and not providing much.

The picture was much the same in the second period, until, to a tumultuous reception, David Beckham took the field for Lennon on the hour mark. The familiar lithe, wiry form was soon in the thick of the action and he initiated the second goal, when he picked out Wright-Phillips on the edge of the box from a corner. The latter skillfully sidestepped a defender and beat the keeper, who should have done better, with a low shot. This simple pass illustrated the beauty of Beckham’s game, which is all about quickly assessing the context, recognising what the most efficient way of getting the ball forward is and then having the physical talent to execute it. I’ll personally always go for the ‘mental’ genius player (see previous article) but it’s no exaggeration to say that Beckham is the finest passer the game has ever seen and why, in his mid-thirties, his services are still in demand at the highest level of club football.

A second substitution saw Carlton Cole replace Agbonlahor, who, on this evidence, doesn’t possess the necessary subtlety to play at this level. The game was petering out before Cole found himself free on the right of the box, steadied himself and sent in a shot, which the 'keeper could only parry and there was the fox in the box once more, Peter Crouch, to bag his brace. 18 goals in 35 international games for Crouch is a great ratio but a lot of these have come against inferior opposition (his club goals-to-game ratio is much worse) and I, for one, remain unconvinced that he’s the real deal.

With nothing riding on the match, it had been a relatively quiet atmosphere. I imagine a full-capacity crowd for a Champions League Final (first being staged here in 2011), or, fanciful at this stage, the 2018 World Cup Final, would be something else.

A sentimental gesture saw Beckham being given the man of the match award, which Capello appositely compared to Obama’s recently scooped Nobel Peace Prize. The sign of a good manager, he professed himself dissatisfied with much of the game but inside he must be as optimistic and excited as the rest of us about England’s chances next summer.