England became the third team to advance out of the group stage with a with a nailbiting win over Trinidad and Tobago 2-0.

It was closer than that.

England, looking like they couldn’t finish if their life depended on it–and it nearly did, looked like they were going to be held until Beckham finally hit Crouch with a great cross that he finally got into the net. Until that moment, Crouch didn’t just look bad, he was horrible. I couldn’t understand what he was doing on the pitch–nor, apparently did he. At least he had the good sense not to do that robot rubbish afterwards.

England showed no spark whatsoever until Rooney, Downing and especially Lennon came on late to open up some space. Up until England scored, the play of the game was John Terry’s clearance off the line in the first half that nearly put the minnows in the lead. Frank Lampard was at least taking shots–mostly feeble balloons, but shots none the less. No one else on the team was doing much of anything. Gerrard was invisible until he poked in the second, nearly at the whistle.

The English criticism of Ericksson is starting to look on the money. This cool and calm team has no sense of urgency and are soon to find themselves in much hotter water.

Other than picking up the three points, England also was able to give Rooney a run out. Broken foot and all, he came on and was hustling all over the pitch.

So England are through, but they certainly have a lot to work on.