Beckham and England march on.

By Mike Tyas

Click here to place your World Cup bets!
Click here for England team section
Click here for teams index
Click here for latest World Cup headlines
Click here for World Cup photo gallery
Click here for World Cup Bettingzone

Job done. Enough said.

England may have cocooned themselves inside their defensive shell against Nigeria but still had the quality to reach the second round.

Expectations were unrealistically high after the defeat of Argentina and, typical of the English psyche, it is now of little surprise that the gloom and doom merchants are crawling out of the woodwork and predicting nothing more than demise against determined Danes.

Hardly had the final whistle blew than critics were blasting England's performance, some even accusing the manager of betraying the country with the style in which they approached their final group task.

England were negative, they were boring. They played with no pride, no passion and with little perspective of the wider picture ahead, said the moaners.

Their argument goes something like this.

If England had grasped the nettle and gone for the jugular against the Nigerians, they undoubtedly would have won.

That would have guaranteed a second round meeting against Senegal and, after the Africans were beaten, Japan would fall at England's feet before an expected semi-final date against the boys from Brazil.

Life, apparently, is that predictable!

If this World Cup has emphasised anything it is that football, thankfully, is not that black and white.

England did what they had to do.

Of course, we would love our national side to have emulated the mighty display that put the Argentineans to the sword, but the Nigerian match was a different kettle of fish altogether.

For a start England had to cope with unbearably oppressive conditions.

This was not a rainy night at Old Trafford or Anfield in the middle of November, but a baking hot afternoon with high humidity.

The conditions were totally alien to English players, however much the argument goes that their preparations should ensure they are able to cope.

And, however, much you want to blank out the thoughts that a draw will do, players are only human and their professionalism took over in the second half.

It was predictable and stifling but you have to earn the right to play.

Remember Italy in 1982 and how they were slammed for their inept draws in the first round group stages. Inept they may have been, but just remind me who won the World Cup that year.

Of course England will be better against the Danes. The game will be played in the relative cool of the evening, against opposition who England and their Scandinavian coach in particular knows very well.

They will be no surprises from the Danes, however impressive they may have looked in qualification and the match is a one-off, sudden-death affair. And don't English players thrive when the chips are really down?

England have come through the so-called group of death and would we really have refused a second round meeting with Denmark if offered it before a ball was kicked in this tournament?

And, we cannot of course forget it, but we are through unlike our mates from the Argentine.

There were tears aplenty from some of the so-called stars after the Swedish draw, but the English are not likely to offer much sympathy.

Argentina underperformed.

They were undermined by their own swaggering arrogance after they scraped past Nigeria in their first match.

The image of their players cheering happily on their coach as it drew into the stadium before the England match simply defied belief, as did the comments made by Gabriel Batistuta after his side was humbled.

There was no sign of a gracious loser. Indeed, Batistuta poured scorn on England and intimated that his side would comfortably sweep past the Swedes.

There was no room for humility from the centre-forward or the Argentine camp. Perhaps they will reflect on that as they head pitifully back to Buenos Aires.

England are still on the road.

And isn't the journey to the Far East a learning experience for the players, the management and a coach who was told by his employers that they wanted him to take on and beat the world – in 2006.

Please, don't lose sight of that.

Do you agree? Send your feedback to: