Fabio Capello hailed a magical performance from Wayne Rooney last night after the Manchester United striker inspired a 3-1 win over Belarus that established a record for England’s best start to a World Cup qualifying campaign.

Rooney won the ball for Steven Gerrard to open the scoring with a 30-yard strike in the first half before finishing off enterprising opponents with a second-half brace that took his tally to five goals in his past three international matches. Capello was keen to emphasise that it was a team performance after England continued their perfect start with their fourth win in four qualifying matches, but even the manager felt moved to single out the contribution of Rooney and his strike partner, Emile Heskey, who created his first goal with a powerful run down the left.

“Rooney is a very important player for us and is playing very well,” Capello said. “He is having a magic time at the moment. I think he can play forward but he can also play on the left or the right. The movement of Rooney and Heskey is very, very good. They are quick, they are strong and they know how to play good football together very well.”

England are five points clear of Croatia and Ukraine at the top of group six, though Capello will not take qualification for granted. The Italian was recruited at £6 million a year to bring back the World Cup from South Africa in two years’ time and acknowledged that it is too early to be getting carried away despite an undeniably impressive start.

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After the phoney war of five friendly internationals, when much experimentation appeared to yield relatively little, four competitive matches have brought as many wins, with 14 goals scored and only three conceded. The WAGs may have been banned, but that is unlikely to stop them leafing through holiday brochures for South Africa during the dark midwinter.

“We played a very good game against Belarus,” Capello said. “They played very well in the first half, causing us some problems in midfield. In the second half we played much better. I think, at this moment, we played like a team. It wasn’t about one or two players creating something. It was a team. That was important for us.

“I think it’s a very important victory, but it’s only one step further. This, for me, must be remembered. The next game is in April. We took a very important step. The style, the confidence — we have that confidence now. That’s the most important thing if we want to win.”

Capello’s next task may be to lower expectations, with Rooney reflecting the confidence coursing through the camp by suggesting that England could go on to win all ten group matches. “It would be nice to win all the qualifiers,” Rooney said. “The two most difficult games, in Belarus and Croatia, we have got out of the way and we have managed to come out with maximum points, so I don’t see any reason why we can’t win them all.

“We’ve worked really hard to be in the position we are in and now we’ve got to keep working hard.

“I owe a lot of credit to my team-mates — it was great individual work by Emile for the first goal and a great pass by Stevie for the second. To get three points and 12 from four games is a great boost.”