The English 50% of me was very satisfied with England's overall performance as they beat Croatia 4-2, though the fact that they conceded two goals points to weaknesses in defence which will have to be addressed if England are going to have a realistic chance of winning Euro 2004. But in the overall scheme of things, there are a lot of positives to take from this game.

England didn't panic after getting off to the worst possible start by conceding a goal early in the game. The huge English support, estimated at 40,000, went very quiet until the 40th minute, when Paul Scholes scored his first goal for three years after being set up by wonderkid Wayne Rooney. That moment only inspired Rooney to another memorable performance, making it 2-1 with a marvellous powerful shot that the goalkeeper couldn't save despite getting his hand to it.

On 68 minutes, Rooney scored his second and England's third, and it looked all over for Croatia. But to give them their due, just five minutes later they pulled one back. They would still have had to score two more to deny England, and once Frank Lampard made it 4-2, with 10 minutes left of normal time, they knew it was all over.

What was remarkable was that the referee was almost totally anonymous, controlling the game with a quiet authority but never interrupting play more than absolutely necessary. The reason can be summed up in two words: Pierluigi Collina. He has now reached the compulsory retirement age for referees in Italy, but there are persistent rumours that they're trying to lure him to the Premiership, where he would be able to referee for another three seasons. I don't know if that's possible, but even if he could do just a handful of games in a season, it would be wonderful to have him. Every game he referees is considerably better because of the way he handles things.

But though England have reached the quarter finals, the very least that the nation expected, their last-minute loss to France in the first group match could still come back to haunt them. France, who won the group by beating Switzerland 3-1, will have what looks like a relatively easy fixture against Greece, while England will have to face host nation Portugal, who have shown that they're a good side. If England play as well as they played against Croatia, they should be OK. But it's going to be another nailbiting 90 minutes.

11:13:52 PM