ENGLAND are down but they are anything but out.

A draw against Sweden came as no surprise and it leaves us still in with a good chance.

What was important yesterday was that England did not lose because two victories against Argentina and Nigeria would have been asking too much.

While the draw was the banker bet yesterday, what was disturbing was the manner in which it came. The first half was fine but that second half performance raised question marks about England's ability to break teams down. Sweden are the best in the world at disrupting the opposition so we shouldn't be too harsh on England. But if we are going to progress we are going to have to improve dramatically.

On the plus side Darius Vassell was a constant threat, Owen Hargreaves slotted in well, Sol Campbell was magnificent and Rio Ferdinand classy.

On the minus side Emile Heskey was a waste of time on the left, David Beckham did very little and Michael Owen even less.

Our big players have got to make their mark against Argentina, especially Owen. He is our major goal threat and if he doesn't perform we have precious little hope of getting into the next stage.

But there's no need to be too downhearted. Argentina will be a totally different game, one in which England will get a chance to play and, hopefully, our best players will get the chance to show their skills that Sweden very impressively managed to deny them.