Super Rooney fires England through

Croatia 2 (N. Kovac 5; Tudor 73)
England 4 (Scholes 40; Rooney 45, 68; Lampard 79)

Teenager Wayne Rooney fired England to a 4-2 comeback win over Croatia and a place in the Euro 2004 quarter-finals against hosts Portugal after an another astonishing two-goal performance last night.

With England struggling after Niko Kovac gave Croatia a fifth minute lead, Rooney set up Paul Scholes to score his first goal for his country in three years and then fired home a piledriver himself in first-half stoppage time.

The 18-year-old followed up with a superb run on the break to score his second on 68 minutes before Igor Tudor pulled one back for Croatia and Frank Lampard rounded off a fine victory.

Rooney's virtuoso performance came four days after he scored twice in a 3-0 win over Switzerland to transform England's Group B campaign after a 2-1 stoppage time defeat by France.

Rooney won a standing ovation at a Luz stadium dominated by England fans who chanted the youngster's name when he came off with 20 minutes to go.

England finished on a high after a calamitous start.

Defender Ashley Cole tried to clear Milan Rapaic's floated cross, keeper David James parried but the ball ran for Kovac to fire home from close range in a packed area.

England were quick to recover, with Rooney putting Scholes through to shoot tamely at Tomislav Butina as the midfielder drove forward, while James needed to make two smart saves to deny Kovac and Dado Prso as Croatia threatened on the break.

England were inspired by Rooney's running and deft lay-offs and it was only fitting the teenager provided the assist for Scholes' equaliser, nodding the ball on after a Michael Owen effort had been blocked.

Rooney had not finished with the Croatians yet, though. The same trio did the damage with Owen feeding the ball wide for Scholes who touched it on for Rooney to crash an unstoppable 22-metre shot past Butina and put England ahead.

Owen had a glorious chance to end his four-match goal drought just after the re-start, put clean through by Rooney only for his lob over the keeper to sail over the bar.

Rooney made no mistake though when Owen put him through for a solo run and a cool finish to make it 3-1, while Tudor headed home a free-kick on 73 minutes to fire up the Croatians.

But Lampard, whose first England goal came in a friendly win over Croatia last August, put the result beyond doubt.

Eriksson says England will be hard to beat

England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson said his team can go all the way to the final.

"If we play like we did in the first half we are going to be very hard to beat," said the Swede.

"What can we say about Rooney that hasn't already been said," Eriksson said. "It's fantastic, two goals and lots of hard work for the team, he's fantastic."

England will play hosts Portugal on Thursday in Lisbon for a place in the semi-finals.

"Portugal are technically very good," said Eriksson. "I saw them against Spain and they did very well. We have two days to recover then we're back on the pitch again."

David Beckham was singing the praises of two-goal Rooney after the match.

"When you see him (Rooney) perform, nothing phases him. It was a big game tonight. He has produced again and he deserves all the praise he gets," said Beckham.

The modest Wayne Rooney, 18, added: "The team did very well today and I'm lucky enough to get two goals. We just go out there and try to do our job the best we can."

Asked about his strike partnership with Owen, Rooney added: "We play well together. Michael isn't scoring now but he set a few goals up for me and I think it's working well."

Croatia: Butina, Simic (Srna 67), R. Kovac (Mornar 46), Zivkovic, Simunic, Rosso, Tudor, N. Kovac, Rapaic (Olic 55), Prso, Sokota.

England: James, G. Neville, Terry, Campbell, Cole, Beckham, Lampard (P. Neville 84), Gerrard, Scholes (King 70), Rooney (Vassell 72), Owen.

Referee: Pierluigi Collina (Italy).

HT: 1-2.

Attendance: 56,000.