If England fans feared there side was going to sink without trace at the World Cup they needn't have worried.
True, there were a few nervy moments during their 1-0 win over Slovenia, but the scoreline would have been much more comfortable had it not been for an excellent performance by Samir Handanovic in goal.
England played much better than in their opening two group games and delivered the victory needed. However, a late USA goal denied them top spot in Group C and ultimately set up a second round clash between Germany and the Three Lions. The World Cup odds suggest they two teams have roughly the same chance of winning the tournament, but clearly this is crunch time.
There's no doubt England will have to improve dramatically if they are to progress to the quarter-finals. Their slip against Serbia aside, Germany looked comfortable during the group stages, playing excellent football against Australia and then grinding out the required result against Ghana.
Once puzzle Fabio Capello will have to solve if his side are to stand a chance of getting beyond the next round is that of Wayne Rooney. Joachim Loew may say he fears the striker, but he's unlikely to cause anyone any problems if he plays like he did in the group stage. The fixed odds betting made him one of the pre-tournament favourites to be top scorer, but he is yet to find the net.
Rooney seemed to have an issue when it came to getting into the box - put simply, it seemed like he didn't want to. In the Slovenia game in particular he was constantly dropping back to interact with Steven Gerrard. As the Liverpool was on the left wing, Rooney often found himself working the channel as a consequence - this isn't where you want your biggest goal threat to be.
Rooney was almost a support striker and, if that's not how Capello wants him to play, something needs to be done. Dropping Lampard for Joe Cole and switching Gerrard into the middle would be a good first step.
Do that, and Rooney can concentrate on scoring goals rather than worrying about how much of the ball he's going to see.
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