Group B Kicks Off

England 1 Paraguay 0

Well it wasn't pretty and you have to say if Roque Santa Cruz had been fully fit then England would have probably lost this match having started so well. There were weaknesses all through the team, Gary Neville had the worst game I've ever seen him have for England, Fat Frank went missing for ninety minutes, Ashley Cole had trouble standing up and Michael Owen clearly isn't match fit. The plus's were Stevie G who is England's own Duracell Bunny, David Beckham who had a good first half, Peter Crouch who toiled all afternoon and Joe Cole. We can't have all the same excuses as four years ago in Japan when the heat was blamed, this is Europe after all.















Gamarra scores an o.g before England make hard work of getting the three points.

Trinidad and Tobago 0 Sweden 0

Shaka Hislop was outstanding after a shaky start when you felt that Larsson, Ljungberg and Ibrahimovic were going to run riot following the sending off after 30 seconds of the second half of T & T defender Avery John (what were his parents thinking of - naming him after a set of scales?). Shaka made three outstanding saves in the second half to deny Sweden the points and the side representing the smallest nation ever to compete in a World Cup Finals could have sneaked a goal themselves when Collin Samuel hit the bar.


Shaka Hislop takes a bow after an outstanding performance.