Ordinary Gweilo

Competitive match, great result, excellent performance. What more can you ask?

Croatia are a useful side, and once they got their early goal it was clear that England would have to battle to get the result they needed. There were certainly times during the first half when I was beginning to wonder whether England would be able to get a goal – Croatia seemed happy to defend, and England dominated possession and showed admirable determination, but the goal wouldn’t come. Then Paul Scholes, of all people, scored the goal that changed the match, and Wayne Rooney got the second to make things more comfortable.

Overall, a good performance by the whole England team, and the midfield looked very impressive and much more confident than against Switzerland. They never seemed to give up. On top of that, clearly Wayne Rooney is the outstanding player of the tournament so far. Croatia couldn’t cope with him, and if their strategy was to rile him and hope that he got booked or sent off then they also failed in that regard as well. Michael Owen looked more lively than in the first two games, and if he continues to improve and the midfield play as they did today then England must be in with an excellent chance of getting revenge on France.