"ENGLAND came good in a big way on Wednesday with their emphatic 4-1 away victory over Croatia in 2010 World Cup qualifying. England have always had very good players ¿ but often they did not apply themselves on the field. This time they did and beating Croatia in Zagreb is a very tough thing to do. I don't think Croatia played like they did in Euro 2008 this summer but I have to admit England really got going. The confidence was obviously oozing. I was especially pleased to see young Theo Walcott get a hat-trick ¿ that will give him an enormous amount of confidence not only internationally but also with his club side Arsenal. I said in my column recently that it was about time he stepped up to the plate and he certainly did on Wednesday. It was also good to see Heskey play ¿ I like a big fellow up there because many teams cannot handle that especially when you have a fast player like Walcott running down the wing and crossing the ball.

But English fans, like their counterparts in Brazil, shouldn't go too crazy about this early result. Brazil could only play to a scoreless draw against bottom team Bolivia this week in their South American World Cup qualifying group and yet again fans and others are calling for manager Dunga's head. Brazil were obviously lacking Kaka but he should be back for the next round of matches. It is still so early in the qualifying right now ¿ there is a long way to go. I always say don't get too full of yourself when you are winning and don't get too down on yourself when you are not getting the results you think you should get. Things can change very quickly in this game.

Portugal must be kicking themselves after going down 3-2 to Denmark when they looked to have the game wrapped up. But after leading 2-1 Denmark came back with two very late goals to take the three points. Portugal have always had a bit of a problem of letting in goals towards the end of games and no doubt they will be looking to fix that.

Argentina also didn't have the best of times this past week only getting two points from their two matches.

They drew 1-1 last weekend with leaders Paraguay and then drew 1-1 with Peru. Again there is a long way to go in the qualifying although their fans are upset.

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ZOLA

All West Ham fans must be pleased with the appointment of Gianfranco Zola as manager this week taking over from Alan Curbishley who quit last week.

I always loved Zola as a player ¿ he is pure class and hopefully he will get West Ham playing in the right way. I don't think I am exaggerating when I say that Zola was one of the most popular foreign players to play in England when he was with Chelsea. I know he doesn't have a wealth of managing experience but he is very smart and knows the English game and he has been working with Italy's Under-21 players.

Of course when he was younger he learned his trade under one of the finest every to play the game when he joined Maradona at Napoli.

I just hope West Ham's directors give him what he asks for and don't interfere with him.

BIG MATCH

The first match of the Premiership on Saturday is the biggest match of the weekend in Europe ¿ Manchester United against Liverpool. It is always a tense match and this weekend hopefully we will see United play their new striker Dimitar Berbatov who they just bought from Spurs at the transfer window. I love Berbatov ¿ he is a fairly big guy with amazing skills, talent and vision and I do not think it will take long for him to link up well with the likes of Rooney and Tevez.

Right now Liverpool are level on points with early leaders Chelsea but United have not lost in the Premier League at Liverpool since 2001 and have won in five of their past six visits so Liverpool will definitely want some revenge especially without Ronaldo, who is out until October, playing.

Liverpool may be without their captain Steven Gerrard who was also absent from England's team this week in Croatia because of injury so someone is going to have to step up for them if he is sidelined.

Another match which will be interesting will be Chelsea travelling to Manchester City with their new expensive signing, Brazil's Robinho. Chelsea wanted to sign the striker from Real Madrid but City's new extremely rich Arab owners snapped him away. I hope he fits in well with City and the English league since he is a joy to watch. He is travelling back to England from Brazil so whether he plays the whole game or not remains to be seen.

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PAY THEIR WAY

I understand that Bermuda's national basketball team will be travelling away soon ¿ and they will be paying their own way. That is not right. When you put on the national team jersey you shouldn't have to pay your own way ¿ it is wrong. Government has spent a lot of money on some sports but they have to be a bit more even about it. They have to share around the money especially when someone is going out there and playing for their country.