A night when Fabio Capello earned a huge chunk of his £6million-a-year salary with a 4-1 victory against Croatia in the Maksimir stadium in Zagreb.

A quite wonderful night when Theo Walcott showed the scampering way forward with a stunning hat-trick which announced his arrival as an international game-breaker and effectively bade farewell to the career of David Beckham.

Walcott was sensational and if the world's top defenders had not heard of him before, then, be sure, they will take notice now.

Not since England beat Germany 5-1 in Munich back in 2001 have England performed with such authority and style.

Not since then have England's spectators, fans who had all but given up on their underachieving side, shouted and cheered in such jubilant fashion.

Where did it come from?

How was such an accomplished display conjured up by players who had taken 49 minutes to score a goal in a 2-0 victory against Andorra's insurance salesmen on Saturday?

Well, Capello's reputation as an accomplished coach has been built on delivering when it matters. And he gauged this tricky tie to perfection.

Forget the five friendlies when he was learning the language as well as the intricacies of the players at his disposal. Forget that unconvincing victory against Andorra.

This triumph was down to the meticulous planning and the courage of Capello's game plan.

For banking on the pace of the teenage Walcott. Mostly, however, for getting England at last to play at the sort of tempo they do so often for their clubs – with high energy and huge workrate.

And, even more importantly, it was a victory for organisation, the sort which was never there under Sven-Goran Eriksson or Steve McClaren.

At last England looked like a team, rather than a bunch of individuals, a team who had a game plan rather than one who had mocked up something on the back of a cigarette packet.

"We have to play with confidence, without fear and play very quickly," Capello had said.

That's exactly what they did. In the first half England hustled and harried and unsettled Croatia. They were quicker to the ball. Stronger in the tackle. Disciplined and composed.

So much of the credit for that must go to the Italian coach whose ambition was obvious from a teamsheet which kept faith with Walcott and partnered Wayne Rooney with Emile Heskey up front.

The message was positive, even if the first goal, when it came in the 26th minute, was via a Croatian defensive mix-up.

The ball spun to Walcott whose first touch was sound and whose second sent the ball skidding low and true into the net.

It was no more than the 19-year-old Arsenal wide man deserved. No more than England deserved. It was reward too for the part played by Rio Ferdinand, whose burst out of defence with the ball at his feet was instrumental in setting up the opportunity.

England put so much into that first half, expended so much energy in pressing Croatia high up the pitch.