1 - 0 to the Arsenal!

Well, we won our first match of the World Cup. Hopefully we will get better, much better. A lot has been written about the heat but Paraguay seemed quite lively in the second half. What happens if England meet Brasil on a hot day? It's not like the players went out on the pitch and said, "Phew! What a scorcher. I didn't know it was going to be too hot to play football." How about changing tactics, Sven? Play deep and defensively in the first half, short balls, stroll around, a few explosive counterattacks.
Tire the other team.
This is why defending generals prefer to be on a hill.
Make the enemy work harder than you.

Back to the game.

After the goal and the injury to their keeper, Paraguay looked really at sixes and sevens, but we lacked the killer touch and they came back into the game. Owen looked like he was still lacking match fitness and Ashley Cole looked positively dodgy at times. On the plus side, Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard and Joe Cole looked good going forward and Crouch again proved he is much more than a tall target man.

Another plus is that Sweden don't look particularly good. Trinidad and Tobago could even be more of a problem especially if Yorke and Glen repeat their performance against the Swedes.

Historically, England (usually) get better when they reach the knockout stages of the World Cup. Let's hope history repeats itself (except for the going out on penalties bit).