Fourth Metatarsal - A Nation Exhales

After England's first outing against Paraguay, that resulted in a useful but, let's face it, ordinary, 1-0 victory, it was Trinidad and Tobago's turn to hand over some points.

The Elgin beckons.

Special offer. Two of these with every beer.
First blood to England. Crouch's 80th minute header starts the ball rolling and not before time.
Gerrard gets the second in extra time sealing the win.
Full time and it's 2-0 to England and they qualify from the group. The crowd sings 'Let's go @#$%ing mental'. And then does.
A couple of England fans celebrate by getting wasted, throwing up, beating some old people and weeing on the pub floor.

The first half was quite ordinary, possession being about 50-50 and T&T getting a couple of half-decent chances. After the break, England went up a gear, rarely letting the ball out of their grasp and peppering the Windie's goal before finally getting the score that matters.

This is all well and good but, for a team that fancies its chances at winning the whole thing, the showing against Trinidad and Tobago, slated as the weakest in the competition, was ordinary indeed. England will surely have to lift their game if they have a hope of getting past round 2 and the quarter finals.

Crashing and burning in the post-group phase looks like business as usual rather than the much touted 'fittest England team for 4 decades'.

The only light at the end of this tunnel is the possibility that England coach, Sven, is boxing very smart indeed. Is he putting out the team that just guarantees the wins he needs to get through while keeping the big guns fit and ready for the next round? While an England win against Sweden on Tuesday would delight the fans, and decide exactly who England meets in the second round, qualifying may be good enough for Sven and he may use the-game-that-doesn't-matter to try out a few formations, give some latterly underused players a chance to show their stuff and manage injuries and yellow cards. It may disappoint the fans if they lose but, if you are looking for World Cup victory, it's not a win you really need and there may be more important things to think about.

My prediction; England 2, Sweden 2.