The sluggish England

England, widely regarded as the most gifted for 40 years were frustrated by World Cup debutants Trinidad until Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard scored in the last seven minutes.

I was shocked by the performances of Michael Owen, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard. Lampard squandered chance after chance and Owen, normally a horrible poacher of the highest level, looked out of form and never got into the match. Gerrard, despite his late goal, was average and made little impact on the game.

On the other hand, Rooney looked healthy but is not 100% ready for the match at this point. However, he did look more energetic and got more involved than Owen did.

Beckham, despite a couple of wasted set-pieces, had a strong two-way game and was finally rewarded when one of his trademark crosses was turned in for the win.

This 2-0 win puts England through to the last 16. But it seems that there is much room for improvement and if they keep on play like this, can they really live up to the hypes?

By Zhenyu Li, sports writer for PD online
The article represents the writer's views only