Wayne Rooney grabs two as England stroll against Andorra

85 mins: Johnson is rightly voted Nationwide Man of the Match.

80 mins: Goal for England: It’s 6-0 as the defenders all hesitate when the ball runs free when a run by Defoe is halted, and Crouch nips in to roll the ball under the goalkeeper and over the line. In fairness to Crouch, he’s in stitches at the comedy nature of both the defending and the attacking. On the England bench, Gary Neville puts his head in his hands. Perhaps at the poor quality of it all - or maybe he’s thinking: “It’s rubbish - and I still can’t get on!”

79 mins: Andorra substitution: Fernandez replaces Silva.

78 mins: Was that a new dance move from Peter Crouch? The England forward was too busy throwing shapes to keep his eye on Walcott’s driven pass as the ball ran between his legs.

75 mins: Goal for England. And it’s Defoe again, converting the rebound after Koldo couldn’t hang onto the ball from Beckham’s free kick. Beckham was looking for his first England goal at Wembley, and his shot was too hot for the hapless keeper to hold.

72 mins: Goal for England. This time it’s Jermain Defoe, but again the provider is Johnson, who has a hat-trick of assists. The full back finds his former teammate at Portsmouth with a short cross that Defoe heads home at the far post.

70 mins: a shameful piece of overacting by Ildefons Lima, the Andorra defender, who falls to the ground clutching his face after a shove by Crouch. The England forward pushed Lima away, and may have made contact with his opponent’s throat, but there was no excuse for the dead parrot impersonation.

65 mins: Beckham’s last few deliveries have hit the first defender, but when he finally finds an England head with a corner from the right, John Terry heads wide.

64 mins: Young cuts in along the byline and fires in a low cross, but is flagged offside when the ball rebounds back to him.

63 mins: England substitution: Wayne Bridge replaces Ashley Cole.

62 mins: Lampard’s shot is pawed away by Koldo. Walcott’s follow-up effort is blocked inadvertently by Crouch.

58 mins: Crouch chests the ball down but volleys wide. Then Lescott fails to make contact with Beckham’s cross as it drops past the last defender. Andorra are retreating even further into their defensive shell. They’re playing 5-5-0.

54 mins: Defoe nods Ashley Cole’s cross just wide.

52 mins: Ashley Young has his first run at the right-back, but loses his balance and miskicks the ball out for a goal kick. With Young on the left and Walcott on the right there’s a tantalising glimpse of a possible England future. The present is nothing special, though, as Walcott overruns the ball on the right.

47 mins: Andorra substitution: Toni Lima is replaced by Marc Vales, leaving the field for the last time as an Andorra player. He was given the captain’s armband for the first two minutes of the second half, so he retires from international football as the captain of his country - a nice gesture.

46mins: England double substitution: No hat-trick for Rooney - he has been substituted at half-time, along with Gerrard. Ashley Young of Villa and Jermain Defoe are on instead.

Half-time, 3-0 to England. The score is a fair reflection of the match so far, with England in control throughout, even if they did switch off a little just after scoring the opening goal. Andorra packed their penalty area as expected, but to no avail - and, to their credit, they haven’t lived down to their image by kicking anyone.

43 mins: England appeal for a penalty as the ball comes off the hand of Oscar Sonejee, but it may have had something to do with the fact that John Terry was trying to pull the shirt off the Andorra defender’s back at the time.

40 mins: A yellow card, the first of the match, for Andorra’s Xavier Andorra for a foul on Gerrard. Beckham takes the kick but instead of trying to find Crouch, Lescott or John Terry, he tries to bend one in at the foot of the near post.

38 mins: Goal for England - and it’s Rooney’s second. That makes the England forward the leading scorer in the European World Cup qualifying groups, and takes him level on 24 goals for England with Sir Geoff Hurst. Once again the cross was provided by Johnson. This time Rooney stole a yard of space on his marker and volleyed home from eight yards out.

36 mins: The official attendance is over 57,000 - an excellent turnout considering the transport problems. 63,000 tickets were sold, so the good news is that most people were able to get to the game.

33 mins: It’s just like watching basketball as Andorra cluster around their goal while England circle around them, trying to force an opening. Joleon Lescott gets on the end of an England corner, but glances the ball well wide.

30 mins: Andorra are awarded a free kick in the England half, but Robert Green is not troubled.

29 mins: Goal for England. Frank Lampard converts a cross by Theo Walcott. It was Johnson who played Walcott in down the right channel, and the Arsenal winger cut the ball back for Lampard, 12 yards out, to strike a first-time shot through the legs of the unlucky Koldo.

26 mins: Fernando Silva is caught by Frank Lampard’s elbow and leaves the field for treatment. So Andorra are now playing 5-4-0. Didn’t Everton try something similar earlier this season? Andorra’s problem is that they don’t have a Tim Cahill to make attacking runs from midfield.

24 mins: Wayne Rooney receives the ball from Johnson in a promising position, but turns through 460 degrees when 360 would have done and ends up shooting well wide of the near post. England have had 80 percent of the possession thus far, and nine shots to Andorra’s none.

19 mins: Steven Gerrard tries one from distance that is deflected over the crossbar for a corner, but Beckham’s flag-kick is poor, and Walcott shoots well wide when the ball reaches him. Have England scored too early? They seem to have lost the focus they showed in the opening few minutes.

18 mins: Glen Johnson is cynically body-checked by Josep Garcia as he goes for a return pass, but Andorra don’t seem to mind conceding free kicks.

16 mins: Andorra win a throw-in - in the England half! But the ball is soon back with the home side.

14 mins: England are indulging in a few flicks and tricks that aren’t coming off. Keep it simple until you’re two or three up, chaps.

10 mins: Alvarez - known as Koldo - comes out to punch away from a cross, which is something he can expect to do on plenty of occasions this evening. So far he has done well, and couldn’t be faulted for England’s goal. He might wonder where his defenders were and why no-one had thought of marking Rooney.

9 mins: Come on England, we haven’t had an effort on goal for five minutes! Peter Crouch meets a free kick by David Beckham but heads the ball well over the crossbar.

4 mins: Goal for England. It’s Wayne Rooney who finds space at the far post as Glen Johnson curls a cross in from the right and Rooney leaves the defenders standing to guide his header back across goal and wide of Alvarez. Was he trying to cushion a header back towards Peter Crouch? No matter - it’s a goal, and it’s Rooney’s ninth in his last seven games. Only four minutes have gone, but it has been coming.

3 mins: Wayne Rooney heads against the upright after Alvarez blocks Theo Walcott’s shot from six yards out.

2 mins: Fernado Silva has briefly crossed into the England half, but otherwise it’s a predictable 9-0-1 formation from the visitors. Steven Gerrard carries the ball into the penalty area but is stopped by a good tackle, and Wayne Rooney tries a clever chip, which Jesus Alvarez fingertips over the crossbar.

1 min: With some Underground lines running, the crowd was better than many had feared, and God Save The Queen was given a rousing performance. Although some of the England team exercised their vocal cords in willing fashion during the anthem, the Andorra team preferred to be the strong, silent types - as befitted their reputation as the hatchet men of Europe.

David Beckham returned to the England starting line-up for the first time since the match against Trinidad & Tobago last June, and his first start in a competitive match since the 3-0 victory over Estonia in 2007, for the World Cup qualifying match against Andorra at Wembley. But if Beckham’s 100th England start and his 112th appearance for his country had been widely anticipated, then the surprise choice by Fabio Capello was Joleon Lescott, the Everton defender preferred to Matthew Upson alongside John Terry at the centre of the England defence - perhaps because of his knack of scoring goals from set plays.

The head coach also resisted the temptation to bring in Gary Neville for the first time since February 2007 - although the Manchester United defender was named among the substitutes - and decided that Peter Crouch, rather than Emile Heskey, would lead the England line. Heskey is one yellow card away from a suspension that would rule him out of the match against Croatia in September, but Glen Johnson, who is in the same situation, kept his place at right-back.

England will take to the field against Andorra knowing that victory will bring them to the brink of qualification for next summer’s World Cup in South Africa. And without taking anything for granted, Fabio Capello’s men could not wish for better opponents for their potentially unlucky 13th game at the rebuilt Wembley Stadium than a nation ranked 196th in the world. Well, they could, but only just - San Marino, at 202nd, are the only team in Europe ranked lower.

England have played Andorra in competitive fixtures three times in recent years, winning all three games and scoring 10 goals with none conceded - but the team from the landlocked mountain nation between France and Spain have made life as difficult as possible for the millionaires of the Barclays Premier League. Steve McClaren’s side were jeered as they toiled against the part-timers in a Euro 2008 qualifier in Barcelona that Steven Gerrard called “the hardest match I’ve ever played with England” before eventually winning 3-0, and the England players have had to avoid some tasty challenges as their opponents have resorted to occasionally desperate measures.

Fabio Capello noted in advance of the game that Andorra spent most of a 5-1 defeat by Belarus on Saturday with eleven men behind the ball, and he did not expect anything very different tonight. So a cricket score for the cricket season can probably be ruled out. However, victory - by whatever margin - is the minimum requirement in an atmosphere expected to be affected by the Underground strike.

ENGLAND (4-4-1-1): R Green (West Ham United) - G Johnson (Portsmouth), J Terry (Chelsea), J Lescott (Everton), A Cole (Chelsea) - T Walcott (Arsenal), D Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy), F Lampard (Chelsea), S Gerrard (Liverpool) - W Rooney (Manchester United) - P Crouch (Portsmouth).

Substitutes: P Robinson, G Neville, W Bridge, A Young, S Wright-Phillips, J Defoe, C Cole

ANDORRA (5-4-1): J Alvarez - J Ayala, A Lima, I Lima, X Andorra, J Garcia - M Jimenez, O Sonejee, M Vieira, S Moreno - F Silva.

Substitutes: J Fernandez, J Gomes, J Escura, V Moreira, V Rodriguez, G Garcia, M Vales

Referee: Bas Nijhuis (Netherlands)