England B 1-2 Belarus

England B 1-2 Belarus

The world cup build up began in earnest yesterday and it got off to a bit of a dodgy start with the second string losing to 10-man Belarus. A few positives though...Owen looked sharp, Ashley Cole and Sol Campbell both came through the game and Crouch seems to lurch between pragmatically effective and anonymous. Aaron Lennon was the star of the show and showed he is up to the job if required. Theo Walcott came on and showed pace and ambition.

I suppose it was a second string midfield so it was always going to be sloppy. Robert Green was the big loser, crumpling to the floor whilst taking a goal kick and lying prostrate in agony as the Belarus striker hit the ball straight into the unguarded net. His World Cup is over.

According to the BBC "Wayne Rooney will definitely miss England's World Cup group stage games.

The striker, who has had a scan on his broken metatarsal, has been told he will not discover when he can resume training for another three weeks."