Liechtenstein - 0 England - 2 England were the ideal guests. They adapted perfectly to the bijou scale of Liechtenstein, giving a self-effacing performance, winning by a tasteful margin and leaving the field to polite clapping from their own supporters.
Although the head coach was seemingly content, there would have been a phalanx of volunteers to condemn England were it not for Wednesday's game in Sunderland.
Criticism is curbed because people know how absurd they will look if the team beats Turkey then and goes to the top of Group Seven in these Euro 2004 qualifiers.
Plenty of rebukes, however, are being held in reserve. After the draw with Macedonia and the defeat by Australia in a friendly, the English public wanted to see a dynamic England, but witnessed only the same laboured efforts that have characterised Sven-Goran Eriksson's squad since it came back from the World Cup finals. Prior to his appointment, a naive England had been overheated and Eriksson has controlled the temperature since then, but an air-conditioned atmosphere can be debilitating after a while.
There are no invigorating gusts to the team's displays. Almost everything about the Swede is temperate, even if calm is occasionally enforced only by a soporific treatment of the facts.
When Eriksson admitted to disappointment over aspects of Saturday's match, he sounded as if he were pondering technicalities.
"I didn't like the beginning of the game or the last 10 minutes because I think we lost too many passes and didn't concentrate enough," he said.
In fact, Liechtenstein in the opening and closing exchanges had a total of perhaps five realistic opportunities to score, nearly taking one of them when Martin Stocklasa hit a post in the last minute.
England thoroughly merited the win, but their overall superiority had never been at issue. Eriksson ought to be sheepish that the sides each created a similar number of chances.
England may follow their coach's example in prizing their orderly image too highly. At the post-match press conference an interpreter accidentally knocked over a tumbler.
Eriksson, snubbing the little jokes being made in apology, was peevish as he stood up and stepped back from the table to examine the water that had splashed his expensive jacket.
It will be a waste if a promising group of footballers are not allowed to rise above neatness now and again. Can the well-groomed Eriksson find a place in his heart for scruffiness?
LIECHTENSTEIN: Jehle, Telser, D'Elia, Hasler, Michael Stocklasa, Martin Stocklasa, Zech (Burgmeier 62), Buchel (Matthias Beck 86), Thomas Beck, Frick (Nigg 82), Gerster. Subs Not Used: Heeb, Ospelt, Gigon, Ritter. Booked: Zech.
ENGLAND: James, Neville, Ferdinand, Southgate, Bridge, Beckham (Murphy 70), Scholes, Gerrard (Butt 65), Dyer, Heskey (Rooney 80), Owen. Subs Not Used: Robinson, Mills, Woodgate, Vassell. Goals: Owen 28, Beckham 53.
Referee: George Kasnaferis (Greece).
