It was only a matter of time before Wayne Rooney added the record of being England's youngest ever scorer to the record as youngest ever international and it was fitting that the first player to congratulate the Everton youngster, after his equaliser against Macedonia, was the player who held both records before Wayne burst on the scene a year ago, Michael Owen.
They do say 'cometh the hour, cometh the man' but it was a few minutes short of the hour before Wayne's passage of rite as an England international came and the way he took his goal made up for the previous 53 minutes in which neither the youngster or his more experienced teammates had managed to make their mark on a poor match.
Much credit must go to Emile Heskey who shrugged of his recent form to cap a great personal England performance, as well as ignore the racist chants of the animals masquerading as home supporters, and set Rooney up with a sublime cushioned header that the striker smashed past Milosevski from 18 yards.
On closer inspection the shot, which at first appeared to be miss-hit, was anything but as Wayne fired the ball into the ground to deceive the keeper. That can surely be the only explanation for the Macedonian keeper pulling his arm away to allow the ball past him.
What I want to know is what Sven Goran Eriksson said to his beleaguered team during the half time interval that elicited such a turnaround as was displayed during the second half when England looked something like an international football team of some repute.
Before the break the shambles that gifted Macedonia their lead was symptomatic of a stuttering performance and just about summed up the two chances England had of winning a 'must-win' match, slim and none.
Half time, under the Head Coach, has usually signalled a mass of substitutions but thankfully, in Skopje, it was the team's attitude and application that changed more than its personnel and there was as much pride bursting forward from the armchair fans at home as the players who wore the three lions proudly under the severest of provocation.
It will be interesting to see how UEFA acts in the wake of Macedonian behaviour, on and off the pitch, that brought nothing but discredit on the fledgling nation. The racist chants, which thankfully television fans were spared, must have been loud enough as even John Motson felt it necessary to comment.
And the disgraceful antics of the footballers of the Macedonia team, with their belligerent approach, to David Beckham in particular, was something that I personally thought had disappeared from international football. I noticed, early on, that something was missing every time there was physical contact between players that ended up with an Englishman on the deck.
Even nations for which cynical aggression is almost a prerequisite the helping hand to assist a player to his feet, after contact, is usually forthcoming. It was patently missing as the Macedonian team seemed to forget that it was a football match, not a war. As for the swallow-diving of the Macedonian centre forward Georgi Hristov, if it wasn't so serious it would have been laughable.
In fact, come to think of it, it was laughable. So ten out of ten for the Belgian referee Franck De Bleeckere for booking Hristov who tried to con a late penalty out of the official. The only pity was that it wasn't a second yellow and thus a dismissal.
But there were more than a few positives to cancel out the juvenile antics of the opposition, and I haven't even mentioned the 'death threats' towards England players, that were very much a part of the media reporting in the aftermath of yet another away victory in Group Seven.
Sven has now equalled the post-war record of Walter Winterbottom with a seventh successive victory and with Liechtenstein next up, on Wednesday, there's no real need to rush down to the bookies and lay a bet against the Swede having the record to himself come the final whistle at Old Trafford.
Wayne Rooney hogged the headlines on Sunday and will probably continue to do so in the build up to the Liechtenstein match but David Beckham deserves an honourable mention too. Yes, I know he has more column inches than Tony Blair but the England skipper threw himself, literally, into his job on Saturday. Not only was he on top form for his passing, and the coolly converted penalty, but, he was all over the park and held his team together, especially in that shambles of a first half when Macedonia threatened to steamroller England.
I wonder how he is relishing the return to his spiritual Old Trafford home, maybe that will be saved for his next book.
My two favourite moments of the win involved Owen Hargreaves and John Terry. The Chelsea centre half may not yet be ready to be the answer to England's centre back line but the way he 'footballed' his way back inside, from the line, to win the vital penalty, was a joy. How many other central defenders do you know who would have had the presence of mind, or skill, to step inside a lunging tackle to create a better option?
Now I know, as many other journalists do, from personal experience the 'Navvy Syndrome' of opening your mouth and then putting your foot into it, up to the hip bone and then wishing you could dig a hole in which to disappear.
Well, Mr Brooking did exactly that when he decided that Owen Hargreaves was never likely, being a right-footed player designated to play on the problem left for his country, to drop his shoulder and go outside the fullback to deliver a telling cross with his left foot. Guess what? He did exactly that but the forwards were as surprised as Trevor and wasted the cross.
To be fair to the stand-in West Ham manager he did make the very appropriate point that the Bayern Munich star was tailor-made to drop back and cover for Ashley Cole as the full back flew forward to augment the England attack. Roll on mighty Liechtenstein!
