What did he say at half-time?

Personally I think put a lot of effort to watch the match last night and I was naive to think the England would return the favour. The match against Sweden, the last group match, kicked off at 4am Japan Time. So, when I got home lats night, I had a bit of dinner, did some chores and went to bed at 7pm. I woke at midnight in time to see the end of the Germany v Ecudaor match, the match that would determine who England would meet in teh second round. The England match was on cable so I had to watch it at Keiko's. I went round there when the Germany match finished and napped again until 3.30am. So far so good, plenty of sleep and me ready for the match with Keiko and Debs.

4am, kick-off. Bad start for England as Owen injured his knee in the first minute. Crouch came on, but England went on to play the predicted short-passing game. And played well. Rooney looked fearless, battling centre-halves twice his height. Lampard had shots from range. Hargreaves had a great first-half collecting clearances from Sweden to keep the pressure on. Joe Cole was working his socks off down the left trying to carve out chances for his team mates and eventually took a shot from distance that arced into the back of the net. England one-nil up, things looking a lot better than previous games.

Then the dreaded half-time, complete with Sven's team-talk came.

I don't know what he said, but the proud lions that went into the half-time dressing room returned as kittens. No confidence going forward. Scared when Sweden attacked. Inevitably Sweden scored, but that still didn't shake England back into action. Gerrard came on for a tired Rooney. Rooney's body language, as he crashed into the subs bench and tore off his boots, showed his frustration that his fitness prevented him from finishing the game and helping his team win. Gerrard would have sealed the game five minutes from time, after a simple header from a great Joe Cole cross, but a scared England defence let a long throw bounce between them for Larsson to toe home. 2-2, a point each and England somehow manage to top the group after poor displays in five match halves. Jammy gits.

Why, oh why must watching England be like this? Yes the media has been hyping up people's expectations but this time the team, on paper at least, look like they could actually live up to the "Unbeatable" image tub-thumped by the tabloids. And what do I find in reality? A bunch of clueless soapstars prancing about for 90 minutes until their post-match photo opportunities.

It has to get better, right?