And then there was one

In the 4th minute of play, David Beckham launched a trademark pin-point-accurate ball toward the Paraguay goal and the ball sailed in after a light touch from the Paraguayan captain for England's goal.

The goal held for the entire match and England came up trumps with a 1-0 finish.

It was not the best game England have played by far. The side did not look as fluid and there was very little effort at passing and keeping possesion. Both strikers, Crouch and Owen, looked out of sorts and were rarely within striking distance.

In the second half, the ball stayed mostly on the left flank. The world's greatest passer (I am talking about Becks, of course) did not see a lot of action in the later half of the game.

Frank Lampard had a few shots on goal which, unfortunately, all went toward the goalkeeper. Steven Gerrard almost hit a similar kind of shot as his second goal in the FA cup final. This time, the ball sailed high over the goal post.

While I am happy that my team collected all the points, I was not entirely happy with the way they played. A lot of blows from the Paraguay side were successfully parried by the defensive wall of John Terry and Rio Ferdinand, both contributing to very good defensive play.

All in all, a good game. But I am looking for better play and am hoping that as the tournament progresses, England will fall into a rhythm and do what they did 40 years ago.