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.

They reached the final of the last world cup and much was expected from France in South Africa. Yet, France has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. The French squad has found it hard to get along with their coach Raymond Domenech from the beginning and this resulted in a lot of drama off the field which spoiled the squad’s team spirit.

France fielded a new line up against the South Africans. There was no Ankela who was sent home on disciplinary grounds, their captain Patrick Evra was on the bench because he took up for Ankela and Thierry Henry was not good enough to find a place in the starting eleven. To make matters worse, early in the first half Yoan Gourcuff received a red card and got sent off, leaving France with just 10 men. The South Africans went all out and played an aggressive game scoring two goals in the first half.