England romped to a 5-1 victory at Belarus and the Netherlands edged Norway 1-0 Wednesday, leaving both winners perfect through three games of World Cup qualifying play.

Wayne Rooney scored twice for England in Minsk, four days after his two goals highlighted a 5-1 victory over Kazakhstan at Wembley. The English are off to their best start in the World Cup qualifying rounds.

After victories in Andorra and Croatia, England leads Ukraine and Croatia by five points in Group 6 going into a six-month break.

“It’s good but still there is much to improve,” England defender Rio Ferdinand said.

Helped by two goals from Ivan Rakitic, Croatia outplayed last-place Andorra 4-0 to pulled even at seven points with Ukraine, which was idle and next plays at England on April 1.

The Netherlands also holds a five-point advantage in Group 9 in the race for spots at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

A minute after Dirk Kuyt had hit the crossbar, Mark van Bommel scored in the 64th minute in Oslo, Norway. The Dutch have nine points from three games. That’s five more than their nearest rivals, Scotland and Iceland. Iceland jumped from fifth place by edging Macedonia 1-0.

“We knew it was going to be a very tough game,” Netherlands captain Giovanni van Bronckhorst said. “We are very happy with the three points. It gives us a lot of trust and confidence going into the future.”

After taking only one point from its first two games, the Czech Republic revived its hopes by downing Slovenia 1-0 with Libor Sionko’s 62nd-minute goal. The Czechs have four points from three games.

Helped by two own-goals and a late strike by Andrei Arshavin, Russia outplayed Finland 3-0 in Group 4.

Lithuania edged last-place Faeroe Islands 1-0 to keep the pressure on Group 7 leader Serbia. Both have nine points from four games.