Owen heads in to the left of the goalkeeper 1-0

The game started well for England - after only four minutes Steven Gerrard took a free kick from the right side - Michael Owen (who had taken the captaincy from the injured David Beckham) scored with an easy header from just outside the six yard box.

Gerrard soon gave Owen another chance with a cross from the right but this time he headed it just wide. After 21 minutes, Gerrard fed Owen through the middle but he fired the ball over the bar.

England could have had a penalty when Caniza put his arm up unchallenged to control a ball in his own penalty area but in was not given.

England had an excellent first half but did not have it all their own way - after Paraguay had a couple of good free kicks earlier on, Santa Cruz almost scored at the end of the first half but could not quite reach the cross from the left.

Fowler passes back to Murphy to make it 2-0 (via a deflection)

At the start of the second half there were six changes with Owen Hargreaves and Danny Murphy playing in central midfield with Trevor Sinclair on the right side and Joe Cole on the left. A minute into the half, England were 2-0 up. Joe Cole advanced on the left, gave the ball to Robbie Fowler who passed it back to Murphy - he shot and the ball went in the net via a deflection from Gamarra past his goalkeeper.

After 54 minutes, England were 3-0 up. Joe Cole broke forward with pace, gave the ball to Darius Vassell and his shot went in with the help of a defection off Gavilan. Vassell has recently been kept out of the Aston Villa side by England Under 21 team mate Peter Crouch but may now be going to the World Cup.

After 67 minutes there were more substitutions for England and Hargreaves, who had been playing well in central midfield went to play at right back to let Frank Lampard have his place in midfield.

England were 4-0 up after 77 minutes - Robbie Fowler curled the ball in to Teddy Sheringham from the right side - the ball went just over Sheringham's head but hit his marker, Ayala and went in at the far post.

Towards the end of the game England had chances to make it 5-0 - Joe Cole put a shot just wide after 84 minutes and Murphy curled a great effort just outside the goalkeepers left post a minute later.

Santa Cruz could have got a consolation goal two minutes from time but England were excellent in the second half and deserved the 4-0 win overall.

                                                                  

Who played well: Nearly every England player - in the first half, Gerrard had a magnificent game, Owen played well as captain, Wayne Bridge made some good runs on the left side and the centre defence of Southgate and Keown appeared to be fairly sound. In the second half, Joe Cole and Owen Hargreaves showed off their undoubted talent - Danny Murphy, Darius Vassell, Robbie Fowler and Teddy Sheringham also stood out for playing well.

Who could have played better: After all the media attention, Kieron Dyer did not play as well as expected on the left wing in the first half and looked like he would have preferred to be more involved in the centre. Trevor Sinclair was also quieter on the right wing than Gerrard was in the first half.

In their qualification group, Paraguay managed a draw home and away with Argentina and beat Brazil - even though they were missing their goalkeeper Chilavert and a few other players, this win will show that England are still one of the favourites to win the World Cup this year.

On the same night, England's World Cup group opponents results were:
    Germany 0 ARGENTINA 1
    Scotland 1 NIGERIA 2
    Norway 0 SWEDEN 0

____________________________________________________________________________

Note: This England World Cup 2002 website is also available using  http://clik.to/england