England to Win World Cup?

Not on that performance.

The ESPN soccernet match report made the English sound more impressive then they actually were. They lacked bite in front of goal with Lampard and Owen missing easy chances throughout the game. Against better opposition, with all due respect to T&T, England wouldn't have come away with a win.

It was a strange decision to take off Carragher and bring on Aaron Lennon, and putting Beckham at right back. I don't know if I should say it worked, because Lennon combined with Beckham to produce the cross for Crouch's headed goal. But it didn't look to work for most of the game though other than the goal.

England looked best down the left flank with the two Coles (Ashley and Joe) making real progress. However, I don't think they did enough damage. It could be due to the waseful finishing of Crouch, Owen and Lampard.

The 2-0 scoreline flattered England, though they might have deserved to win for all their domination. But again, it's not the result, it's the performance that I base my speculation on for them not to progress much furthur in the World Cup. They look to finish top of the group and would face either Germany or Ecuador, both of whom I was very impressed with in previous games.

Ecuador played a bit earlier than England and I must say all their goals were world-class. The last goal especially. It was well worked, and the cross was truly out of the top drawer! They played really compact, and because of that, managed to conserve energy for their attacks and to last the whole game. That is much of the reason for their late goals to finish teams off. Well done, Ecuador! They might well be the dark-horses of the tournament now!

So far I have got my predictions right - that Ecuador will win (though I predicted 1-0) and England to win (spot-on 2-0 though it didn't reflect the game). I just wonder if my 1-1 prediction will come right. Sweden at being held to a 0-0 draw so far at half time. It might end that way.

Tomorrow's tips and preditions:
Argentina v S&M... 1-0 (maybe more)
Netherlands v Cote d'Ivoir... 2-1 (a late goal might settle it)
Mexico v Angola... 3-0 (or at least a comfortable 2-0 win)