England managed to scrape through to the next 16 this afternoon but not because they played 'well' - they played better than their previous two performances but that does not constitute 'well'. They played better because Slovenia play better football than the USA and Algeria; England raised their game in response.
England just had the edge over Slovenia and this was fairly reflected in the score. Interestingly, the biggest cheer of the afternoon went to Joe Cole as he came on in the second half, replacing Wayne Rooney. This cheer was apparently echoed in Manchester and Glastonbury, who had the largest gathering of England fans in the country with 100,000 bodies.
