The hype surrounding Wayne Rooney emphasises everything that is wrong with the British press. They become obsessed with one particular angle and do it to death when, in actual fact, England's worries about Rooney's state of health are being mirrored in other camps throughout Germany. The Argentinians are fretting over Messi, Italy worry about Totti, Shevchenko's fitness, or lack of it, was evident when Ukraine met Spain the other day and Brazil can hardly be too happy with Ronaldo's lethargy. And lost among that little lot has been the enforced absence of Trinidad & Tobago's top defender, Marvellous Marvin Andrews.
With Amery John suspended after being sent off on Saturday, I'd hoped Leo Beenhaaker would have found a place for the big fella but the Dutchman is still unhappy with Marvin's knee so they had to face England without him, although Brent Sancho has certainly shown himself to be a perfectly capable deputy. But would Big Marv have allowed Peter Crouch to climb unchallenged to head home England 83rd minute opener? I think not.
T&T had coped comfortably with England's first half efforts. Apart from Crouch's wild volley, the goal was under little threat and, as the Soca Warriors began to get brave and have a go on the break, I wondered if a shock might be on the cards. Knowing Eriksson's history of substitutions, there would have been little to worry about from the bench, if not for the Boy Wonder champing at the bit.
I wonder how Sven would have reacted if Kenwyne Jones had managed to bundle the ball into the net just before half-time. Keeper Paul Robinson was all over the place, Jones leapt to meet the ball on the edge of the six-yard box and, while he did not make clean contact, it looked like he'd done enough to force it over the line. Amazingly, John Terry got back to hook the ball clear and England got out of jail.
After the interval Trinidad & Tobago began to look increasingly more dangerous on the break. It took more great work by Terry to deny Jones, then substitute Cornell Glen, who had given the Swedes all sorts of problems last weekend, got away on a couple of occasions but lacked the composure to punish England. But as the game wore on I suspected that T&T were going to have to make one of their breaks count because England had finally stepped up the pace.
The arrival of Rooney actually did little to change the game, other than to give his team-mates a psychological lift. Aaron Lennon was the guy who made all the difference, filling the injured Gary Neville's role on the right and beginning to stretch T&T in that area. Suddenly Beckham was finding more space and being more accurate with his crosses and, if a goal was going to come, it would come from there.
Seven minutes from the end David Beckham finally got in a telling ball and Crouch, clearly climbing on Sancho, got up to head home from six yards. You could feel the relief in Clive Tyldesley's voice and when Lambert rattled in the second it was suddenly bring-on-the-world time again. Yet, just couple of hours earlier, the 'experts' had been talking about going 3-0 or 4-0 up, then bringing on Rooney for a late stroll. Can't they see how close they came to falling flat on their faces?
So the Boy Wonder is off the sick list and back in action. England have their main man back and, having overcome Paraguay and mighty T&T to book their place in the knock-out stages, the rest of the world is now shaking in its shoes. The sweat had hardly dried on John Terry's brow when Gabby Logan came out with a classic. Seeing England as Group B winners, she visualised them meeting Ecuador and referred to it as 'the clearest route to the quarter-finals'. Memo to Gabby: England ain't won the group yet, Ecuador might not finish second in Group A and, having watched them a few hours earlier, the South Americans are no pushover either.
I wasn't sure of what to expect from Ecuador v Costa Rica but, once Carlos Tenorio headed them into an early lead, there was only going to be one winner. Costa Rica had looked good in patches against Germany but I think we can put that down to the Germans' first night nerves. They never looked like troubling Ecuador for whom the 3-0 scoreline was anything but flattering.
Second half strikes from Agustin Delgado and Ivan Kaviedes killed the game and, having now scored five goals without reply, Ecuador certainly look capable of making life difficult for the more fancied nations. With superior goal difference figures, they now need only to draw with Germany on Tuesday to win the group. It is not inconceivable that they pull everyone behind the ball and frustrate the host nation who, with the crowd on their backs, might struggle to make the breakthrough.
And what would that mean for England and Sweden? Knowing that victory would mean a second round match with the hosts, winning Group B might not be quite so appealing. Mind you, on the evidence of their performance against Paraguay, the Swedes can consider themselves bloody lucky to by in contention at all.
It took a last gasp goal from Freddie Ljunberg to give them a 1-0 win and, listening to the TV commentary, it is hardly surprising that the Larsson myth lives on. The Diving Swede was credited with setting up the goal with a clever header into Ljunberg's path when it was, in fact, Marcus Allback who did the good work. Have ITV been taking lessons from the Scottish Hack Pack in elevating this over-the-hill specimen to superstar status?
Commentator Peter Drury took time out to tell viewers how him-wi-the-tongue's services to Scottish football had earned him an honourary MBE, also mentioning Barcelona's Champions League win which got the Scum Of a back-door ticket to the big show for next season. Perhaps if Mr Drury did his homework he would discover that those who lobbied for Larsson have a bitter hatred of the honours system and, by bowing to their pressure, the powers that be only assisted them in bringing the self-same honours system into disrepute.
Meanwhile, back in Germany it is party time for England…but have they shown anything to seriously worry the real contenders?
LITTLE BOY BLUE