Tom Humphries sees Sven-Goran Eriksson get lucky and the England faithful happy in their continuing sense of destiny

If it's Tuesday it must be Cologne. If it's jammy it must be Sven. The city of Cologne makes a statement about itself as soon as you arrive on the train across the broad majestic Rhine and into the Hauptbanhof. The functional elegance of the railway station is dwarfed by the ethereal majesty of the cathedral right there on its doorstep. A humbling entrance for the traveller.

England must feel like that sometimes at this World Cup. They are, when they function well, a nice working building sitting squat in World Cup City with edifices of genius all around them. So far the comparisons have been indirect, and when England stand against workaday constructions like T&T, Paraguay or Sweden they can look adequate themselves.

England's advocates have drawn sustenance from the belief their boys are growing into the tournament as a child grows into his good coat.

If it's Sunday it must be Stuttgart.

Sven's tour of Germany continues. South-ho to Stuttgart on the Sabbath, there to fend off the threat of mighty Ecuador.

There are evenings such as last night when Sven must, on his way to bed, pause to look in the mirror, turn to slap the four-leaved-clover tattoo on his buttock and say, "Still lucky, me oul son, still lucky."

An equal share of four goals was enough to see England into the next round as the winners of Group B last night. They move on with a points total and reputation bizarrely at variance with their performance so far. The goals they scored, a stunning strike from Joe Cole and a free header from Steven Gerrard, add to the confusion. England created few chances of quality. That has been a theme of their tournament.

And the themes for the future? Perhaps some chickens are coming home to roost. After just two minutes Michael Owen, alone and unimpeded, went over on a knee and the look on his face and his immediate withdrawal suggested what Sven conceded afterwards: "It doesn't look good." Indeed it looked the end of Owen's World Cup.

Sven's gamble on bringing such a thin sheaf of forwards to Germany may be about to cause hardship. He fell back on what passes for Plan B in the shape of the Joyce Grenfell-lookalike Peter Crouch but as the tournament gets more serious the big man's deficiencies are ever more cruelly exposed.

It seems too the time has passed for blooding young Theo Walcott, so Sven travels serenely into the second round with Wayne Rooney struggling for sharpness, with Crouch looking further out of his depth each day and with no other serious options.

Still he knows how to twirl it.

"I am happy that we played well tonight," he said. "We are here to reach the final. There will be some harder teams ahead but we scored two fantastic goals and they scored two from setpieces."

Such optimism disguises the fact Sweden tested the woodwork on Paul Robinson's goal twice in the second half and Steven Gerrard's first duty when he arrived as a sub was to clear a ball off his own goal-line.

"I'm not surprised that we put them under so much pressure," said Lars Lagerback, the Swedish manager. "We played with passion and we knew what we were doing. We could have got more goals tonight."

Lagerback's side go on to play the hosts on Saturday. That will be a difficult one, but for England last night's point may just have brought a short-term reprieve.

The day is coming though when Sven will have to put his cards on the table. Last night's evidence suggests it will take more than a bluff to scoop the big pot. It's not that England were bad; they weren't - at least not on their own terms. It's just that this game broke like a mid-table Premiership match and England were left knowing that once again there are lingering questions about their creativity.

Afterwards Sven confessed himself "very, very happy" with the "Rooney situation" even though the player himself had looked furious when substituted. Sven put the fury down to disappointment with his performance. Those who saw Owen make a point of coming to the mixed zone last week and complaining about the lack of service to him felt Rooney might have been feeling some of the same neglect.

Having started well last night the youngster looked slightly off the pace as the game went on but it was difficult to judge because England created none of the chances he thrives on. The odd thing is that for Ecuador, Sven's side virtually picks itself. Gerrard and Lampard, the arranged marriage at midfield, will resume. Rooney and Crouch, regardless of their differences in style, will fumble on. Sven is crossing his lucky fingers for the return of Gary Neville. The only good news is the form of Joe Cole.

Yesterday afternoon in this most splendid of cities the steps to the vast cathedral were littered with the good-humoured, red-shirted disciples of Sven. They had their backs to the towering beauty and were drinking beer, cheering their comrades as they alighted from trains.

England's World Cup really. Enjoying it while it stays fine.