OU have to give credit to Trinidad & Tobago coach Leo Beenhakker for masterminding the tactics that made England work so hard to beat them yesterday.

He's been in the game since the days I was playing for Feyenoord in Dutch football and the knowledge he's accumulated at clubs like Ajax and Real Madrid has made him one of the wiliest coaches in the game.

It was only two late goals from Peter Crouch and Steven Gerrard that broke the Caribbean side's resistance and sealed England's place in the second round.

Beenhakker's team set out their stall early. They got everybody behind the ball and said "this is how we're going to play". And England could not break them down.

If you charge up and down the field against England, then you're going to lose, because that's how the English play week in, week out. But when you're faced with a blanket defence, route one is no good. That's when class comes into it.

England need more players like Wayne Rooney to get through that kind of defence. They've had two victories, but they will need to pull up their socks to be successful in the tournament, as the second round is when it will really start to heat up.

BRAZIL

Brazil are huge favourites to win the World Cup and got their campaign under way with a 1-0 win against Croatia. It wasn't the champagne performance that everybody seems to expect every time Brazil play, but the important thing is that they got three points.

People have got to understand that even the Brazilians are human. The Croats played with so many people behind the ball, they made it very difficult to play against them.

In fact, Croatia are a very competent team. I always used to think of the people from the Balkan region as "the Brazilians of Europe", because they are so good on the ball.

It was similar to England in their opening victory by a solitary goal against Paraguay. People who underestimated the Paraguayans ? and there were a lot of them ? and expected England to steamroll them, simply don't know the game.

Like Ecuador, Paraguay came through the tough South American qualifying group. Ecuador may have been a surprise package to some people, but not to anyone who follows the South American game.

People said they could not beat strong teams when they weren't playing at altitude, as they do in home matches in Quito. But they have good players with big clubs and many of them are experienced ? and the longer you play international football, the easier it becomes.

When you have 11 good players putting in maximum effort and trying to stop you from playing, it's going to be difficult to win, whoever you are. Brazil, England, Argentina, Germany, Holland England ? none of them has a divine right to three points.

That's where a lot of teams go wrong against Brazil. They beat themselves by being afraid of the opposition. You have to match them for effort first to be in with a chance. I don't know what was wrong with Ronaldo, he certainly didn't look his usual self. But Kaka produced one piece of magic that gave them a winning start. If they play to their full potential ? and they certainly didn't reach it in their first match ? then the Samba Boys will take some stopping.

Argentina have looked the best side so far to me, in terms of an overall solid performance. They didn't give their opponents many chances, they took their own opportunities well and they looked compact in defence and midfield.

Portugal have a good side, but I thought they allowed Angola far too much room in their opening match. Although the Portuguese came out of it with a 1-0 win, if they give as much room as that to better sides they will pay for it.

I was not particularly impressed by Germany. They scored some good goals in their 4-2 win against Costa Rica but they got away with some very sloppy defending.

And if a team like Costa Rica were able to exploit that, imagine what some of the stronger nations will do.

We've always known Spain have had good players but they've never started the World Cup so well as they have this year, with a thumping 4-0 win against Ukraine. I expected more of the Ukrainians though.

Italy should also be regarded as contenders after their 2-0 win against Ghana. You can never rule out the Azzurri.

AFRICAN NATIONS

For me, the African teams have played some of the best football in the tournament so far. The Ivory Coast were magnificent in their 2-1 defeat to Argentina. Angola and Ghana also played well against strong opponents.

All they lacked was the finish. You have to be able to put the ball in the net to win matches.

Most of the African players are with clubs in the big European leagues these days, unlike 20 years ago. That experience of the top level has helped their national teams strengthen.

The next World Cup will be held in South Africa and one day, one of these teams is going to win it. Don't be surprised if 2010 is their time...