Cap has it all in hand
England's victory over Kazakhstan yesterday evening was possibly the least convincing four-goal win since... well, since England beat Kazakhstan 5-1 at Wembley last October.
But it is churlish to complain at what ultimately proved a comfortable victory for Fabio Capello and his men.
Sven Goran Eriksson earned plaudits for his excellent record in away qualifying matches, but very few of his victories came by such a decisive margin.
England have scored 13 goals in their four away games during this qualifying campaign. Capello has banished the days in which England nervily clung on for one-goal victories in outposts such as Azerbaijan, Albania or indeed Kazakhstan.
The opening 25 minutes or so did not make pleasant viewing but, after Gareth Barry settled their nerves with the opening goal and Kazakhstan lost Sergey Ostapenko, their most potent attacking threat, to injury, England were able to close down the game with minimal fuss.
Despite Capello's best efforts, England are still not a team capable of effortlessly retaining possession and wearing their opponents down. But what the Italian has managed to do is liberate Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney sufficiently to ensure that the Three Lions are always likely to grab a goal.
He's even managed to get Emile Heskey to score in consecutive internationals, for heaven's sake.
When England beat Andorra at Wembley on Wednesday, they will have 21 points from seven games and it would need a monumental blow-up in the final three games of the group to deprive them of their spot in South Africa next summer - especially after the stalemate between rivals Croatia and Ukraine yesterday evening.
England fans will be acutely aware that their team have squandered plenty of similarly promising positions in the past, but they should be reassured that such things never happen to sides managed by Capello.
Cultural learnings on Kazakhstan
When England were drawn in the same World Cup qualifying group as Kazakhstan back in 2007, it was popularly assumed that this was the grim away trip to end all grim away trips.
Then there were the pre-match scare stories that fans should not brandish their flags of St George in public, and that any England fan sporting a Borat-style mankini would be hurled in jail.
The Spy didn't make the trip out to Almaty - he was far too busy keeping tabs on domestic issues like the financial meltdown at Liverpool - but he rather wishes that he'd made the effort because, by all accounts, the Kazakhs proved themselves to be exceptionally genial hosts.
They joined forces with England fans before the match in a ceremony to remember the 65th anniversary of D-Day, there was none of the racism that has marred many England away trips in recent years, and the warmth with which they greeted the visiting players, particularly second-half substitute David Beckham, was both generous and genuine.
If only all England football supporters were as good at confounding expectations.
Shearer out of Toon?
One of the more interesting stories in the Sunday newspapers has Alan Shearer giving up the chance to become full-time manager of his beloved Newcastle to take over the reins at West Bromwich Albion.
Apparently, the Magpies caretaker boss is growing increasingly impatient at the uncertainty surrounding the future of the St James' Park club following owner Mike Ashley's decision to put it up for sale.
And he is now prepared to jump ship and take over at West Brom should, as expected, current boss Tony Mowbray leave for Celtic.
This raises several questions.
The first is why West Brom would want Shearer, after his less-than-impressive record of one win in eight at the end of the Premier League season.
And the second is this: whatever happened to the Toon legend's often-expressed determination to return to the comfort of his pundit's sofa this summer? Was it all just a ploy to leverage a better deal from his boyhood club?
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