The plot is so eerily familiar now. England, appearing in still another formation and with new faces in key positions, play as though they are wearing blindfolds. Yet they inch forwards towards a World Cup that all logic says is beyond, if not some of their talent, their organisation, their preparation and their tactical wit to compete with teams of the quality of Argentina, Brazil and Spain. The thought of England’s Sol Campbell, John Terry or even Rio Ferdinand abandoning the day job to become a latter-day Stanley Matthews beggars belief. We had come to praise Argentina, instead we were entranced by Mexico.

The sight of Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez and Juan Roman Riquelme tormenting defenders in Saturday night’s knock-out tie between Argentina and Mexico was no surprise. But when Ricardo Osorio, Mexico’s centre-back, switched to the right-wing and started dribbling past Juan Pablo Sorin, the Argentinian captain, a few misconceptions had to be addressed. Perhaps Mexico are worthy of the top 10 billing Fifa’s rankings system has given them. And perhaps our own highly regarded defenders are nowhere near as good as we think they are. They bridled that he had commuted from the United States, that he employed an American fitness coach, questioned the standard of the Bundesliga and – most relevantly – had overseen worrying results..

Germans did not like his apparent Californian affectations, his psycho-babble speak. “It was quite surprising,” the Arsenal goalkeeper said, “that Klinsmann was able to give enthusiasm back to the people.”

Not so long ago – about 16 days in fact – J?n Klinsmann was being mocked as “Grinsi-Klinsi”. Germany and Argentina are there [the quarter-finals] and so are we. Today we showed our fitness levels are rather good and Rooney is getting better and better.”. Jens Lehmann had a phrase for it in the wake of Germany’s pulsating, passionate victory over Sweden that propelled them, pushed by the desire of a nation, into the last eight of the World Cup. The manager added: “We should have scored more in the second half We will play better on Saturday.

Roberto Carlos [Real Madrid team-mate] sent me a text saying ’score me a free-kick tonight’, so it’s brought me good luck and we’re happy. It was ugly at times and we haven’t played to our potential, but we are through to the quarter-finals.”England were also indebted to Ashley Cole for a vital interception when Carlos Tenorio almost capitalised on an early slip by John Terry, and Beckham’s goal did signal an improvement from Eriksson’s side. “I’ve been struggling even in training and ‘Wazza’ [Wayne Rooney] said to me before you’ve been terrible for the past two days so you’re going to get one tonight. “I haven’t scored many free-kicks this season, and in the last two games I’ve been struggling [with free-kicks],” he said. He didn’t tell me, but in the second half we saw it all.”Beckham has now played a part in four of England’s six goals at this tournament but admitted he felt under pressure before this game with his delivery. The England captain said: “I didn’t feel well before the game but I thought I would be fine and in the first half I felt fine, but the sickness continued in the second half and it just came out.” Literally, although Eriksson added: “I didn’t know he was feeling bad.

Overall, I thought it was a decent performance and we probably deserved to go through but we will have to raise our game on Saturday.”Beckham’s contribution belied his suffering in the oppressive heat of Stuttgart, where England again used 70 litres of fluids to rehydrate – the same amount as during their opening game against Paraguay in Frankfurt – plus 70 kilos of ice in the ice baths used by their players after the game. “We’ve not really played our best stuff, but we’re still in the quarter-final. But we all know we have to raise our game to get a result against Portugal or the Netherlands.”I don’t think we’ve struggled to play well – four games and it’s three wins and a draw I don’t think that’s too bad. You lot have made out that our performances have been terrible, but the main thing is that we keep finding a way and we’ve got through to the quarter-final. It’s very encouraging to know that we can play better and that we have already qualified for the quarter-finals. It would be a concern if we had lost two or three games and were out, but I am not concerned.”It required the 20-year-old Rooney, who completed his first 90-minute performance in two months, to offer a more honest assessment, admitting that England must improve significantly to advance beyond Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Portugal this weekend.”We’ve reached the next stage of the competition and this is where life will get really tough, so we have to be at our very best on Saturday,” the England striker said. The goal was a personal landmark for Beckham, who became the first Englishman to score in three World Cup finals in succession despite suffering from dehydration before the game and vomiting on the pitch as the problem intensified during the second half.
Once again, however, England delivered a result despite their performance in Germany, and although his side have now produced only one encouraging 45-minute display in this tournament – the opening half against Sweden in the final group game – Eriksson again insisted there was no cause for concern in either the team’s form or his continued search for a productive formation.”I know we can play better football, but in the four games so far we have played better and better,” the England manager said “The best will come.