Gerrard celebrates his crucial goal

England were cruising, but it still took an iron will and special talent to deliberately go back and hoodwink Hamann a second time for show.

Eriksson will hope and pray the injuries that have plagued Gerrard in recent times are a thing of the past, because he is a key element of England's plans.

The Swede has exuded an air of calm into England's team, an ambience reflected by the measured response to Carsten Jancker's early strike.

England had Owen - and the Germans had no answer.

It was the sight of Owen bearing down that reduced Oliver Kahn, regarded as the world's best goalkeeper, to blind panic when he inexplicably picked up a back pass in the first half.

But England had other heroes, with Manchester United duo Paul Scholes and David Beckham a potent creative driving force alongside Gerrard.

Ashley Cole is a defender with rare attacking ambition, while occasional defensive lapses in concentration can be overlooked when the whole picture is examined and the influence of Sol Campbell and Rio Ferdinand grows.

The German pitch announcer told us - to the point of tedium - that we were all at a giant party and were witnessing the match of the year.

He was right about the party, unless you were German, but he was wrong about the match.

Owen may not yet stand sporting comparison with Spitz and Korbut, but he looked at ease in the home of sporting greatness in Munich.