There is a culprit. His name is Kevin Keegan. No international side worth its weight should ever throw away a two-goal lead as naively as England did in their 32 defeat to Portugal.

This is a performance in which England's naivety was matched only by their tactical confusion. For example, at one stage in the second half it seemed that England had four defenders queuing up to mark one Portuguese striker.

We all know that Portugal have a host of talented ball players but when you are 2-0 up against them, then the time has surely come to close them down. Put simply, England should have moved the two Neville brothers into midfield, not to attack but rather to crowd out the Portuguese and stop Rui Costa, Figo and Joao Pinto from working their close passing combinations. It might not have been pretty, but it could have been effective.

Instead, even when they were 2-0 up, England kept on playing as if they needed to score another goal. At half-time, with the score at 2-2, Keegan could have had an important influence on the game if he had changed the side's tactical attitude, if he had told his players to let the Portuguese play in front of them but not to move forward needlessly, offering Portugal the space to knock the ball in behind the flat English defence.

In the end, however, and not withstanding the good English start, such was England's confusion that apart from the first 20 minutes, Portugal were in control.

By way of consolation, I can take two positive things out of this game. First, the strong English start and David Beckham's role in that start was very promising. Second, England will at least suffer from no confusion when they play their next firstround game against Germany in Charleroi on Saturday, since they will have to go all out for a win.

This will be a do-or-die situation for England. Unfortunately, soccer history would suggest that death, or at least the premature end of their Euro 2000 run, is the more likely option.

Germany's 1-1 draw with Romania was a game between two ordinary enough sides.

I did not expect Germany to start off as badly as they did yesterday. Normally, the Germans give nothing away but they made a right present of that early goal to Viorei Moldovan. That should have been a great confidence boost to the Romanians but they lack either the player or the mentality, or maybe both, to go on and finish off the game.

The Germans did their German thing, they kept on trucking and they got themselves back into the match with a terrific goal from Mehmet Scholl. After that, they were probably in control, even if they did not create that many chances.

It is also true about Romania that, while Gheorghe Hagi is still a wonderful player, if he does not do the business for you in the opening hour, then he is something of a liability. At 35, he clearly has only an hour's football, if even that, in his legs.

Oddly enough, I'd have to say something similar about Germany's use of their veteran, 39-year-old Lothar Matthaus. If a lot of traffic is passing through his feet, then he can make an impact on the game with his good passing but if the ball never reaches him, he becomes a bit irrelevant since he simply no longer has the legs to chase his way back into the match.

I know that the Romanian coach, Emerich Ienei, believes his side should have had a penalty in the first half when Adrian Ilie was upended in the area. As I saw it, though, the Romanian striker should have tried harder to stay on his feet and ride the tackle because he was only 10 yards out from goal and could well have gone on to score.

In an interview with Paddy Agnew