Awaaaaay!

Not looking great is it? I mean if you want to win a World Cup, the least you should be able to do is defend a corner. As a defender, you'll be lucky to have any kind of professional career if you can't deal with a corner. Has any other team looked in such disarray at corners in World Cup 2006? How do England manage this? The English game is generally considered to involve more crossing than other European leagues, so you would think English defenders would be more adept than most at getting them clear. Defenders of the calibre of John Terry, Rio Ferdinand and Sol Campbell didn't reach their lofty status as the rocks at the heart of England's top three teams without being able to head clear a corner did they? Then why in the second half tonight did England look like conceding a goal from every single sodding corner that Sweden took?? It wasn't just from one position that England were struggling to clear their lines either; first it was the near post, then it was the far post, then it was the second ball; you name it, England weren't there.

You could at least say that this was a decent game, which is a first, and only, for group B. Unfortunately for England though, most of the entertainment was provided by them hanging on for dear life as Sweden turned the screw. Ironic really that after causing England so many problems from crosses, the Swedes themselves allowed a classic man-over-on-the far-post situation to develop, which Joe Cole exploited with a very tidy cross. Joe Cole was undoubtedly England's best player; before providing England's second, he had opened the scoring with an unstoppable volley that ITV's Gareth Southgate inxexplicably tried to blame on the helpless Swedish goalkeeper. If you ask me though, Cole needs to do this sort of thing in every match if he is to justify his place in the team as a completely right-footed player on the left wing. His movement on the ball is so predictable, always inside on to his right foot, he is very easy for a full back to deal with. This badly affects England's balance and, combined with Beckham's lack of pace on the other side of the pitch, means that they hardly ever get behind a defence, which in turn makes your attacking options very limited. Still, if Cole keeps coming up with telling contributions such as in tonight's game, no problem.

Gerrard's connection with Joe Cole's cross looked to have ended England's Swedish hoodoo. That is, until the crowning glory of their second half defensive debacle. This time it was the usually infallible John Terry at fault, completely misjudging his leap leaving Campbell and the rest exposed as the ball dropped into a yawning gap in the penalty area. Larsson got his studs to it to make it 2-2. Despite the defending though, England should be happy enough. They have won their group, which is most unusual, and their second round opponents are Ecuador, as opposed to Germany. Mind you, considering that Ecuador have scored a few goals from set pieces already, maybe England should be a little more concerned by their challenge than they appeared to be after tonight's game. Certainly England should be looking no further ahead than Ecuador, at least until they have learned how to defend a corner.

Ecuador themselves did not give away too many clues today about what England should expect on Sunday. They rested five players, including all their goalscorers from the opening two games, so not too much can be read into the ease of Germany's 3-0 victory. At least that's the line Ecuador will console themselves with after some shambolic defending of their own. Credit to the hosts though, who made it look easy in front of another adoring crowd. Klose is a strange player to watch. He doesn't seem blessed with any great talent, he certainly attempts no spectacular feats of individualism or creativity. Nor is he blessed with any outstanding physical attributes; he is neither pacy nor powerful. All this makes him easy to underestimate, but what he does seem to do, like all great strikers, is always find himself in the right position. At first he can appear lucky, as balls seem to just drop randomly to him in the box, or ricochet towards him; but you can't be lucky as often as he is. The man definitely knows where the goal is; four goals already, to add to his five from 2002. That's what you call an effective striker.

I love watching a host nation fall in love with the World Cup. Germany's games in the knockout stages are likely to be wonderful spectacles, and should not be missed under any circumstances. Not that anything should be missed in the World Cup of course. If you're still with us, you're definitely in for the long haul. From here on in it's valium all the way.

Can I interest anyone in Argentina v Holland?