Joe Cole was the star of the show but all thoughts were with Michael Owen as he made a sad exit from the World Cup to leave England with a striking headache. But, injuries and defensive lapses aside, we topped the group and avoided the Germans.
Chelsea midfielder Cole scored a wonder goal, but the mood in the England camp after the 2-2 draw was subdued. "Michael Owen's injury is a big blow for us as a team,"" said Cole. "He's had a difficult 12 months and now it looks like he has another battle on his hands. But I've no doubt hell be back scoring goals for England sooner rather than later.
"We played very well in the first half and we should have killed the game. Sweden played better after half-time but still didn't create any chances from open play. For my goal, the ball just sat up nicely – it was early on in the game and I thought I'd test the keeper. It was a great start for us."
"Ecuador will be a tough game, they've produced two terrific performances in the group stage. Either Germany or Ecuador would have been a tough game. Now the real business starts and we can't afford any more mistakes from set-pieces. John Terry, Rio Ferdinand and Jamie Carragher are all brilliant in those situations – I'm sure it will be the last goal we concede from a set-piece."
Sweden's Freddie Ljungberg said: "At half- time, Lars Lagerback said we should control the ball more so that's what we tried to do and it worked pretty well. Today, we scored with just a few chances while in the other games we had plenty and only scored once, so we're improving our strike-rate. With a bit more luck, we could easily have won the game.
"I think Germany will be a tough opponent - (Jens) Lehmann is an exceptionally good keeper. The Germans are a tall, strong side but to be honest I haven't checked out many of their games so far. It will be a special match and a bit sad that we have to play them so early in the tournament."
England skipper David Beckham said: "Losing the lead was disappointing but it seems to be the English mentality to make things more difficult than they have to be. The nation expects the team to win the World Cup – they know what we can do. There will be a positive click and it will happen soon. We feel for Michael. Losing him is devastating. The injury looks really bad and the only option now is to wait for tomorrow's scans."
Wayne Rooney added: "I feel fine from the injury. There were no problems and I was able to keep with the pace of the game. We had a good first half but didn't play so well after half-time. Im not disappointed I didn't score and I wasn't angry when I was taken off – it's just that I wanted to play."
Frank Lampard said: "We started strongly first half and I thought we were going to win. We should have defended better after half time. As for Ecuador in the next round, well take whoever we get. But it's not an easy game – there's no such thing at the World Cup. They may have lost today but it wasn't really representative because they had a much changed line-up. After losing once, theyll be more determined not to lose again."
Sven-Goran Eriksson, who gambled on taking just four strikers to Germany, was pessimistic about Owen playing any further part in England's challenge. He said: "It doesn't look very good for him and for us. How much time it will take we don't know. I think it's a bad one. We'll have to see what the doctors say."
Eriksson, however, insisted that England had the striking power to cope without Owen. He said: "I'm sorry about Owen. But we have (Theo) Walcott. And (Steven) Gerrard and Joe Cole scored fantastic goals."
Sweden keeper Andreas Isaksson claims Joe Cole is the key to the success of England's World Cup campaign. He said: "Cole was England's best player by a long way. He is very important to this England team. He has lots of skills the others don't have. He scored a great goal, a little lucky perhaps, but still a great goal. We were very impressed with him."
