England had to defeat Slovenia if they wanted to move to the next round and that is exactly what they did, thanks to Jermain Defoe. England fans will be able to breathe a sigh of relief as they are now assured a place in the round of 16. Slovenia had a poor game and appeared to be more focused on defending than attacking and it proved to be their undoing. England controlled the ball right from the first half and kept attacking the weak Slovenia defense but could only manage to convert one chance through Defoe.

Earlier England’s coach Fabio Capello paired Rooney with Defoe and brought James Milner in to the mid-field and this combination worked a lot better for England. They played a good game but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

Both Rooney and Gerrard had ample opportunities to make the score 2-0 but they failed to score. Rooney missed some easy chances which are usually food and drink for him and will be under more pressure to perform until he opens his account. Capello under tremendous pressure said that he wanted his squad to relax and hence changed up his pre-tournament rules of no alcohol. Capello told reporters that “They were allowed to drink beer before the game, you can ask them. It's true. I changed something and used my imagination”

Lampard told reporters “The offer was there, but I'm not sure anyone took him up on it. Sometimes those things are on offer and it's up to you if you take them. You might have one or two beers – you don't have to have 10.”

The relaxed rules seemed to have worked wonders for the team who will now face Germany on Sunday for their second round time.

Capello went on to say that “The quality of the players is really good but we improved a lot, physically, today. We ran a lot, pressed a lot and won the ball back really well. We played well in this game and that was important. We had to win here, and we did. We played with the spirit we'd lost in the first two games in the group and could have scored a second goal. Because we didn't, we suffered in the last few minutes – it's always possible you might draw or lose a game like that unfairly – but I am pleased”

England fans were concerned about Rooney’s substitution towards the end of the game but Capello confirmed that he substituted Rooney because of a bad ankle and assured fans that the striker will play against Germany on Sunday.