Beckham lifted England's tempo and hit a post when he came off the bench for the last half-hour of the 3-0 victory.

But Capello admitted he had laughed when he heard of the award saying: "I was a bit surprised. It was like Obama winning the Nobel prize after 10 months as President. Beckham was on the field for just half an hour."

Capello, however, went on to praise the manner in which Beckham always makes an impact following a victory which made it nine wins out of 10 for England in a convincing World Cup qualifying campaign.

Capello said: "Whether Beckham plays five minutes, 20 minutes or half an hour he always plays very well. Sometimes substitutes have a problem to play normally. David always plays well."

It was a clear indication that Beckham is still firmly in Capello's plans for South Africa, despite him failing even to make the bench for Saturday's defeat against Ukraine.

With Beckham admitting that his second loan spell with AC Milan is "95% done" it was one of the few positives to come out of a match whose result was largely meaningless.

Another was the form of Tottenham striker Peter Crouch, who seized the chance to impress Capello with two goals.

The first came within four minutes when he turned in a cross from Gabriel Agbonlahor.

He added another from close range in the second half with Manchester City's Shaun Wright-Phillips contributing the other.

Capello, however, was not being drawn on whether Crouch, who has now scored 18 goals in 35 England appearances, had furthered his case for a place on the plane to South Africa.

He said: "I know Crouch well. He is one part of the squad and I know he has scored a lot of goals."

Capello also confessed that he was angry with his players in the first half and his remonstrations were clearly picked up by the television cameras.

He refused to detail his frustrations, saying: "I did speak with the players but I can't say what. It's important to win and it was important for me to learn more things about my players. It was a really important game for me.

"I'm happy the way we played in the second half."

Belarus coach Bernd Stange admitted his side missed the injured Alexander Hleb and also believed England could now go on to win the World Cup.

He said: "If you lose 3-0 away you should have shame but I have no shame today. We gave England a present with an early goal and it was very difficult. I think 3-0 is a clear result, but it is too high.

"I cannot be proud because we lost but we have a good side and everybody saw we can play football. I'm not happy with 3-0. I'm disappointed but there is no shame.

"We have to develop our team. A small country cannot deliver enough players of quality. Five of our players are playing in a local league and the Premier League is a big gap.

"Fabio made it clear they are going to win the World Cup and they have a strong team. They should go for the cup, it's possible."