Eriksson was delighted with Joe Cole's performance

He told BBC Sport: "Cole was absolutely fantastic, his development over the last two years has been amazing.

"He was strong, clever, he showed his tricks and his skill and he even worked hard in his own penalty area.

"He was our best player and I won't have any problems on the left wing if he plays like he did."

Report: England 2-1 Uruguay

Eriksson confirmed that Wayne Bridge was not badly hurt after the defender was stretchered off in the first half after a collision with goalkeeper Paul Robinson.

He said: "I have been told that Bridge's ligament injury is not too serious, but I don't know any more until he has had a scan.

"I hope the left-backs recover as that is a very important postion for us and Ashley Cole and Wayne Bridge are excellent players."

Scoring your first England goal at Anfield was a great moment for me Peter Crouch

Match-winner Cole felt the second-half introduction of Peter Crouch, who scored England's first goal, and Shaun Wright-Phillips tilted the game in England's favour.

He said: "It was a nice game for me and I felt we could have even won by more in the end.

"The patience we showed was the key. We hung in there and got our reward at the end.

"Crouch and Wright-Phillips coming on gave us the impetus we were looking for and it changed the game for us."

England player ratings

Liverpool striker Crouch hopes his goal-scoring performance will ensure him a place in Eriksson's World Cup squad.

He said: "Scoring my first England goal at Anfield was a great moment for me. I tried to put myself about a bit and hopefully I made an impact. �

"The best way to make an impact is to score a goal so I was delighted to do that, hopefully that pushed my stake for the World Cup squad."