Composure crucial for England

Nothing would lift English footballing hearts more in Munich on Saturday than if Sven-Goran Eriksson's team were to sweep past Germany much as Bobby Robson's side qualified for the 1988 European Championship by beating Yugoslavia 4-1 in Belgrade, with all their goals coming in the opening 24 minutes.

Such thoughts, of course, belong strictly to the field of dreams. The principal threat to England's chances of gaining the victory that would keep alive their hopes of qualifying for next summer's World Cup without a play-off is twofold. First Germany need only a point to win the group and second, while Rudi V÷ller does not have outstanding players, he is in charge of a winning team.

So is Eriksson if it comes to that. The 2-0 friendly defeat England suffered against Holland at White Hart Lane a fortnight ago, when their coach played two sets of spare parts either side of half-time, hardly reflected on the 100 per cent World Cup record of the regular side since the Swede took over.

For Saturday Eriksson will surely seek to pick up the thread of success from Athens in June, when a composed, well-balanced England side beat Greece 2-0, a victory that capitalised on the Germans being held to 2-2 in Finland four days earlier.

He could also do worse than remind himself of the way England completed their qualification for the last World Cup four years ago.

The match in Munich will be the team's most important qualifier since Glenn Hoddle's side held Italy 0-0 in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, to qualify for France '98 while avoiding a two-legged play-off against Russia. The circumstances might have been different to the task facing England now but Eriksson and Hoddle do share common ground.

To be sure, England need to win in Munich whereas they needed only to draw in Rome. Of the players who held Italy only David Seaman, Sol Campbell and David Beckham are likely to play against Germany. This time, moreover, doubts about Beckham's fitness have arisen from something more than the coach wishing to deceive the opposition by misinforming the media.

Discipline will again be important and in Italy four years ago two of England's most valuable performances that night came from David Batty and the head-bandaged Paul Ince, who together with Paul Gascoigne neutralised the midfield and did much to anaesthetise the match.

England will surely need to achieve something similar on Saturday, which means Steven Gerrard making up in ability what he lacks in experience.

Patient, possessive football became the hallmark of England's away performances when Hoddle's team qualified for the last World Cup and needs to be seen again if the anxiety of the play-offs is to be avoided now.