Half the World Away
14/06/02 | by Alex Walker

It can be little surprise that England were not at their best in Wednesday's draw with Nigeria. The blistering mid-day heat of Osaka must have come in stark contrast to the cooling conditions of an evening in the Sapporo dome.

But whatever has been written about the performance, they got the job done and that is enough for me.

Since Sven-Goran Eriksson took over as manager, England have shown remarkable ability to not only bring their game up to the level of world powers like Germany and Argentina, but in grinding out results and doing 'just enough'.

There's a fine line between doing 'just enough' and 'not enough', and Sven treads it very carefully. But so far he has stayed on the right side, having 'just enough' luck to not only take England to the World Cup finals (via a Beckham free-kick in the last minute of the last qualifier), but also to send the lions into the second round.

England can count themselves fortunate again that the second round will be played at mid-day our time and late evening in the Far East. Under cooler conditions, the likes of Owen and Heskey can use their pace without tiring so easily and England's attack should look all the better for it.

Denmark are a well-organised team, but so are England, so it will probably be a very close game. In fact, it will be the kind of game where doing 'just enough' will make a world of difference.

England have got to keep it tight at the back, and with Campbell and Ferdinand, both on impressive form, marshalling the back line, this should be a manageable task. If England can keep possession, they will eventually find a way to break down the Danish defence due to our superior ability on a player-to-player basis.

And the rest of the tournament is well open. Although we must take it one game at a time (cliché alert!), I can see very few teams who look like a serious threat to England.

Brazil may seem to have cruised through their group, but they have conceded goals and looked very fragile at the back against poor opposition. The Italians were very short of ideas once the Mexicans (who I felt were excellent yesterday - another well organised team) denied them possession.

No-one looks like running away with it and England stand as good a chance as any, despite more injuries in this farcical squad of ours. After all, in the hostile conditions of this World Cup, you only have to do 'just enough' to win. Still, a few more goals would be nice.