Everybody that watch the game England won against Paraguay saw the fact that England played a lot less aggresively in the second half. I really thought that this is a trait of a big team: keep the result while taking into consideration that there are still some matches to play in front of you.

Apparently, it is not that. Or, at least, not only that. The weather seems not to be liked by English players: the humidity, the heat, they are taking the toll from the players.

“The heat knocked us out a little,” said Eriksson. The temperature reached 30 degrees in Frankfurt and according to the Swede: “The players said it was hot like against Brazil and Nigeria in Japan four years ago.” Midfielder Frank Lampard, who was voted the Budweiser Man of the Match, echoed his coach’s words. “I know we suffered in the second half and this is partly due to the conditions. They were very hard for us.”

The heat clearly does not help a side best suited to playing at a high tempo but this was not the sole talking point of a day Lampard felt had produced “lots of positives” - as well as “things to work on”. His own performance alongside Steven Gerrard in the centre of midfield was one of the positives while David Beckham again underlined his dead-ball expertise with the free-kick which Carlos Gamarra nodded into his own net.

After winning without touching any heights – no bad habit, of course - the Swede [Sven-Goran Eriksson] is confident that England “will play better football” as the tournament progresses. Assessing Saturday’s display, he concluded: “We have to play 90 minutes like we did the first 35. I know perfectly if we want to win the World Cup that is the target.”

With that target in mind, the good news is England can have no more 3pm kick-offs until the quarter-finals. The bad news, however, is they have now not scored a second-half goal in any of their past eight FIFA World Cup matches.

Source: WCoffsite