World Cup Diary 14. Waiting.

England have to prepare for their fixture against Sweden knowing that winning is important but not vital.

Its a strange pre-amble for the impending sudden death knockout football that is to come, where the drama will stack up minute by minute and fortune hangs by a thread. And the team is now more options than a settled selection and system.

France were held by South Korea, Ghana beat the Czechs and Italy were held by the USA. These are the sort of poor results that Sven's men have avoided as have Germany, Brazil and Argentina who are also yet to falter.

The tournament is shaking down and the more powerful contenders emerging. There will be some mouth watering clashes in the round of 16, the first knock out stage - and not everyone can survive.

Rooney will play for England looking to improve his match fitness and there can be no expectation that he will be able to produce for 90 minutes at the top level yet. His ability to affect matches and outcomes remains limited until he can be out there fighting for it for the whole game. Seeing him playing with Owen will interesting.

Brazils Ronaldo has attended a hospital complaining of headaches and his touch looked gone playing the first part of the game against Australia. Not every person has the resources to deal with the pressures and Ronaldo couldn't cope with the World Cup in France in 1998.

Its a reminder of the stress levels that go with the worlds most popular professional sport and the sometime fragility of the genius's who are best at it. The England team look like they're laughing a lot - a natural defence and the best. Come On England.

Premiership Diary