Out-of-form England ride their luck

It is comforting to know that England will head for the 2002 World Cup led by one of the best free-kick specialists since Zico. But there, alas, any comparisons with Brazilian images of the past must end.

For even as Old Trafford celebrated the glorious shot from David Beckham that averted a play-off with Ukraine by 85 seconds and cut short similar German glee in Gelsenkirchen, the reality remained that the present England side, for all its promise, knows as much about the samba as Charley's Aunt from Brazil.

In fact Beckham's resounding equaliser redeemed a performance against Greece on Saturday that was more in keeping with that much revived 19th century farce. And what could be more comically illogical than finding yourself 2-1 down at home to Greece in stoppage time only a month after beating Germany 5-1 in Munich? The biggest significance of Beckham's goal is that it has spared Sven-Goran Eriksson's team the chore of resitting its GCSEs. England are there, and for the moment that is all that matters.

Eriksson now has seven months to rehone the qualities he has brought to the side and eliminate the too familiar shortcomings that at Old Trafford so nearly sent England to Kiev in November. "I believe this team can be a lot better for the World Cup," he said after Saturday's game.

Certainly it is to be hoped that the general poverty of the latest performance was a brief relapse.

Without Beckham - his goal, his leadership and the best all-round contribution by a captain in living memory - England would have lost to Greece for precisely the same reasons they were beaten by Germany a year earlier and had been sent home from the 2000 European Championship in dismal disarray.

Abysmal passing and a failure to track opponents down enabled Giorgos Karagounis to run large parts of the match. Nobody seemed to know whose job it was to deal with Karagounis. Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes passed the buck to the back four when they were not passing the ball to the opposition.

As a result neither was inclined to move, a lack of decision that, but for Nigel Martyn, could have seen the Greeks take a 2-0 lead shortly before England drew level for the first time. In the 67th minute Karagounis set out from his own half and, as usual, was unchallenged as he ran at the heart of England's defence. An exchange of passes with Themis Nikolaidis and he was quickly through on goal.

England enjoyed enough slices of luck on Saturday. The free-kick from which Beckham scored should never have been given since the challenge made by Kostas Konstantinidis on Teddy Sheringham was a fair one.

Events in Gelsenkirchen, where Germany were held to 0-0 by Finland, also supported the notion that Eriksson possesses the good fortune that has so often passed his predecessors by.

Yet England were never luckier than in the moment when Karagounis decided not to trust his left foot for a quick strike. The second he took to set up a shot with his right gave Martyn time to compose himself and block the best chance Greece had of putting the contest beyond England.

Scholes and Gerrard showed a similar strength of purpose. The grass was longer than it usually is at Old Trafford but Scholes passed the ball as if he was knee-deep in bindweed, and until half-time Gerrard played like Superman on kryptonite. Yet both made important contributions thereafter, Scholes with his runs into scoring positions, Gerrard with his passes.

In the first half the immobile Emile Heskey was a target man for any passing pigeon and only when Andy Cole replaced the peripheral Nick Barmby did England acquire anything like the mobility up front they had lost through Michael Owen's torn hamstring.

Nevertheless, this enabled Heskey to switch to the left flank, where his aggression curbed the dual threat of Christos Patsatzoglou and the impressive Angelos Charisteas, who had combined so well to put Greece ahead after 36 minutes.

In August Ashley Cole's defensive limitations had been savagely exposed by Boudewijn Zenden when Holland won 2-0 at White Hart Lane. On Saturday Patsatzoglou waited for the defender to sell himself cheaply before surging to the byline and brushing aside Barmby before seeing his cross ricochet off Ferdinand to Christeas, who drove an emphatic shot into the far corner of the net.

On present evidence Cole and Barmby are not the answer on the left, but Eriksson's options are thin. Keeping Heskey there would at least shore things up, and the big man seemed happy in the heffalump's role as old Eeyore came loping on to backhead a free-kick from Beckham over the goalkeeper's head in the 68th minute.

But no sooner had Sheringham come to the rescue than England's defence threw away the lifebelt. Following a free-kick, Martin Keown allowed Nikos Dabizas to lay a ball from Angelos Bessinas off to Nikolaidis, who appeared in front of Ferdinand to drive the ball past Martyn.

The rest was down to Beckham. His metamorphosis from Peter Simple to Horatio Hornblower was already well advanced and now he cut, thrust, ordered and organised in the best tradition of an English hero.