Brazil the ultimate test for Swede's Italian approach

An impressive scoreline, an unbelievable scoreline. Maybe we can start dreaming now. This England are starting to build up a head of steam here in the often cloying heat of Japan. Just how far it can take them in this tournament is a matter of fierce debate, but Sven Goran Eriksson has fashioned a team of cohesion and resilience out of some unpromising parts. Bring on the boys from Brazil.

Yet, once again, this was a strange night, lifted by the thousands of England fans, who danced the conga in the stands and trumpeted their support from first to last. It was as well they made their own entertainment. England's style does not quicken the pulse. Once poor Thomas Sorensen had gifted them an early goal, England exerted a suffocating grip on a match which many thought would add another page to the litany of heroic penalty shoot-outs. But, after the Greek tragi-comedy at Old Trafford, there seems to be a moratorium on drama. For the moment, at least.

So we watch the new, functional, England, wearing a recognisable England strip and identifiable England faces, playing a sort of football which would have given the Italians of the late 1960s a bad name and winning by a margin which equals England's best in the World Cup. "Are you Scotland in disguise?" sang the ecstatic England fans. Games against the auld enemy were never this straightforward.

"We got the breaks tonight at the right times," admitted Teddy Sheringham. "But you have to earn your luck. On Friday, we will have to start again." Against either Belgium or Brazil, brass bands or samba, sausages or salsa. Even Sven Goran Eriksson went off message to acknowledge that, yes, the two countries had different footballing traditions.

Eriksson must be equally bemused by England's rewriting of the statistical truths of football. By some mysterious force of nature, not necessarily called Rio Ferdinand, England can control games without having the ball. It is a singular and precious art. For long periods amid heavy rain, Denmark stroked the ball happily around in midfield, trying to work a position through their speedy wingers, Dennis Rommedahl and Jesper Gronkjaer; time and again, England's sliding curtain of a midfield blocked off the space, contained the threat and, when the Danes did manage to penetrate that blanket, they found only the intuitive presence of Ferdinand, who once again seemed to be playing the game in a different time zone from the rest.

The measure of Eriksson's coaching skill is evident in England's steady improvement, from the shambles of the second half against Sweden in Saitama to the well-drilled victory over the slayers of France yesterday. But what sort of football is this? Give up the ball, work hard to shut down the opposition, wait for mistakes. Eriksson would say it was winning football. It is also football from the dark ages, admirably disciplined, but thoroughly unattractive, defined in damning terms by Morten Olsen. "It was cynical football," commented the Denmark coach in reference to England's victory over Argentina. "50 per cent Swedish, 100 per cent Italian." The Swedes and the Italians should sue for libel.

The Danes will wake up this morning and wonder if they were mugged. Watching the video will still not bring enlightenment. One moment, they were nursing a 13-match unbeaten run in competitive matches, the next they were picking the ball out of their net with unreasonable frequency. But give the Brazilians 63 per cent of the ball and count out the dead. You wonder what Sheringham, a true footballing man, really thinks about this new brand of Flintstone football.

"Denmark did have a lot of the ball," he said. "When you're 3-0 up, I suppose you'd expect to be able to dominate, but it's something we'll have to look at. It's not just the Brazilians, the Belgians have a lot of skilful players too. We've got to keep hold of the ball whoever we play on Friday."

Patience and aggression were the characteristics demanded by Eriksson before the match. Patience England have in abundance, but their goal tally of two in three matches was the worst of all the last 16 teams in the tournament. In contrast, Denmark boasted one of the most effective strike partnerships in Europe, in Ebbe Sand and Jon Dahl Tomasson. Tomasson alone had scored twice as many as the whole England side. But this is not a tournament which is conforming to type. By half-time England were three goals to the good and set to coast happily through the second half, withdrawing Paul Scholes and Michael Owen as precautions.

England barely had more possession than they had enjoyed against Argentina, a mere 36 per cent in the first half, but Danish lapses, beginning with Thomas Sorensen's fumble after four minutes and ending with Niclas Jensen's tame header straight to Beckham just before half-time when Denmark had mounted a sustained period of pressure, undermined all their slick work.

So England have progressed further under Eriksson than they did under Glenn Hoddle four years ago and they now have five days rest before their next game, which is a powerful advantage at this stage of the tournament. For a first-timer, Eriksson is handling his troops with finesse. Get Owen a goal then give him a rest, give Kieron Dyer a good run-around in the middle, protect Scholes for more important days. All these factors count in the long run and there is no reason to believe that, if Ronaldo and Rivaldo are the next to sample England's unedifying combination of catenaccio and counter-attack, England cannot draw them into the web as well.

Though no England player would be drawn into speculation about their likely next opponents, a meeting with Brazil is the only possible conclusion. Then we will see whether Eriksson's new England are a sham or serious contenders. At the moment, the jury is still out, or asleep. Asked if he had seen a side of real quality in the tournament, Sheringham's response was unhesitating. "Yeah, Brazil. They're great to watch, you see their players doing things others can only dream of. People say their defence is weak, but it's looked all right to me so far."

England now move on to the prefecture of Shizuoka, buoyed by a win which will become more handsome when the generosity of the Danes has been forgotten. Eriksson has taken some pragmatic decisions since the opening match, taught England to play not just to their strengths, their central defence and the pace of their forwards, but to pay monastic vows to their weaknesses. The Germans and the Italians have known how to win like this since the cradle. England are still learning, but the Brazilians can be brutal tutors.