England 1 Sweden 1
England's World Cup campaign got off to a faltering start with a tame draw against Sweden in the notorious 'Group of Death'.
Swedish midfielder Niclas Alexandersson's second-half strike cancelled out a 24th-minute headed goal by England defender Sol Campbell at the Saitama Stadium.
England finished the game on the back foot and only some fine goalkeeping from David Seaman kept Sven-Goran Eriksson's side in the match.
Henrik Larsson squandered a chance to win the game in the dying moments when he hooked a shot across the face of goal.
Sweden - unbeaten against England since 1968 - earned a share of the Group F points after a terrible blunder by Leeds defender Danny Mills on 58 minutes.
A speculative long ball from Sweden's Tobias Linderoth fell to Mills in the English penalty area, who tried to chest the ball back to keeper Seaman under pressure from Larsson.
The ball was scrambled clear only as far as Alexandersson, who took his chance with aplomb, curling a shot beyond Seaman from the edge of the area.
Sweden almost took the lead straight afterwards but Teddy Lucic's volley was superbly saved by Seaman, getting down smartly to save.
The sight of returning England captain David Beckham being substituted in the 64th minute encouraged the Swedes further and Seaman again was forced to pull off a fine save from Lucic.
A lovely through-ball from Larsson put Lucic clean through on goal, but Seaman came off his line swiftly and showed great reflexes to block the advancing Swede's effort.
The Swedish onslaught continued and England's previously compact display looked in danger of unravelling. In attack England were unable to unleash star striker Michael Owen, well shackled by the Swedish defence.
England's most effective attacker was Darius Vassell, who troubled the Swedes with his pace until being substituted for Joe Cole midway through the second half.
The first half's only goal came after a promising build-up involving England fullback Ashley Cole ended with Sweden conceding a corner away on the left.
From the resulting set-piece Beckham swung a perfectly flighted ball into the six-yard area and Campbell soared above the Swedish defence to power a firm header home.