Big names living up to their billings

Mark Lawrenson Soccer analystThis continues to be a good World Cup, with plenty of bright, attractive football and very few surprises, so far. After the opening week, my impression is that the best teams, the favourites and the sides you expect to do well at World Cups - Argentina, Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Spain - are all living up to their billings. Of the big names only Brazil, England and France have been disappointing.

From the technical viewpoint, I have liked some of the coaching. Managers such as Guus Hiddink for Australia, Jürgen Klinsmann for Germany, Dick Advocaat for South Korea and, last night, Sven-Goran Eriksson for England have all made intelligent, match-winning substitutions.

To begin with England - I know German TV commentators and others were getting ready to hail the "biggest shock" of the tournament so far but, honestly, I never believed it would happen. From the moment Eriksson brought on Aaron Lennon and Wayne Rooney, I felt England would win.

It is not a very complicated matter, really. When you play a team like Trinidad and Tobago, which sets up a defensive stall with four at the back, five across the middle and one up front, there is no room to attack them down the middle. Your only hope is to play the game wide on both flanks, stretch their defence and make chances for a midfielder coming on a run.

So it was with England last night, with Lennon and, to a lesser extent, Rooney both immediately creating space for team-mates. Within minutes of them coming on, Frank Lampard had a couple of the sort of chances he normally puts away.

In the end, England's goal came from working it down the flank. Lennon knocked a ball back to David Beckham, who delivered a simple cross for Peter Crouch. That sort of goal is hardly rocket science, is it?

One of the intriguing questions about England now concerns that right flank. It might sound like heresy, but you could argue a case for playing Lennon rather than Beckham because he offers more pace and penetration. Knowing Eriksson, however, there is no chance of that. Rather, against Sweden, he will probably start with Rooney and Crouch up front.

Rooney may not have done much last night, but he looked good to me, making those little touches that create space for team-mates. He needs only match practice to rediscover his sharpest touch.

It is true, of course, that if England had been playing a decent side last night, they would have lost. Against a good side - and they will come later in the tournament - England will clearly have to do a lot better. For the time being, however, all you can say that is that they stuck at it and, with two wins, are now in the second round.

As for the rest of the tournament, a number of sides have impressed me. Top of the list might be Spain. Their front six were direct and fast and played it wide; it is hard to argue against a 4-0 win over Ukraine.

The Czech Republic made an excellent start, too, with that 3-0 win against the USA, but before coming to conclusions about them, I would like to see them play Italy in their final first-round game.

That could be a very revealing match. Italy have made their best World Cup start for years. With Gennaro Gattuso and Gianluca Zambrotta to come back into the team, with Francesco Totti getting fitter, they could be a serious side.

The jury is still out on Brazil. Their 1-0 win over Croatia was hardly impressive but I would like to see them play another time and preferably without Ronaldo. I have never seen a world-class player like him, in a world-class side like Brazil, play as badly as he did the other night.

If coach Carlos Alberto Parreira is serious, he should drop Ronaldo and play Robinho instead. Then, with 20 minutes of the game left, he can bring on Ronaldo and say to him, "Okay, let's see what you can do - if you want to, that is."

Mind you, I doubt we will see it happen that way, just as I doubt we will see Eriksson drop Beckham in favour of Lennon.

Finally, Germany are making progress. Their dramatic 1-0 win against Poland may not have been vintage football but it was classic German, keep-at-it stuff. Furthermore, Klinsmann's substitutions - Oliver Neuville and David Odonkor - won the game for him. Equally important was the atmosphere in Dortmund. The home team are already on a roll and have a powerful 12th man. The Germans are coming.