Yes, Germany has been good on and off the pitch.

The weather, though warm and sultry, has not been the stultifying experience it was in USA '94 or Japan 2002.

Add in the innovative look of virtually all the stadia, the packed houses making it a World Cup carnival three times a day and you get the impression that if things continue to go this way, it will end up as one of the truly memorable tournaments since they first began in 1930.

Even the referees, bless them, are making an effort to keep in the background and allow games to flow (with the exception of one or two yellows which shouldn't have been) and the much publicised ball has been fine and not the problem some predicted before the first game kicked off.

England, though, appear to be swimming the other way in this great summer fest. True, they are winning and not conceding goals, but their play is disjointed, their movement is laboured and their ambition is nothing beyond a victory at any cost.

Right now that cost is their reputation and having arrived in the country as one of the favourites, there is a real feeling about that they will be easy meat come the business end of the competition. There is only one redemption. If they look at how poorly they have been as a unit against both Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago and accept this failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, but this time more intelligently, then there is the real possibility that they can do something worthwhile as they head for the knockout phase via this week's game against Sweden.

Germany have thrown off the coating of disorganisation and rancour to become a growing force through a sense of will that, as hosts, they will be more than the sum of their individual parts. Argentina are playing with a tempo and a technique that had a goodish team . . . Serbia and Monte negro . . . on its collective knees within half an hour, Spain is threatening to translate its undoubted talent onto a big stage at last. And Brazil and Italy. Well, we know what they are and what they will become because of who they are.

But England. Where Argentina have been mesmeric, you could say England have been miserable. Sven's side is threatening to implode before our very eyes. The faults are easy to sift out . . . the overreliance of the long ball seeking out Peter Crouch, the lack of guile in midfield, the absence of any sophistication or imagination.

All you can say about their play is that it is predictable and, you can be sure against better opposition, simply not good enough. Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago aren't going to punish England's inability to sew together a seam of passes. But I believe that from next weekend when they will face either Ecuador or Germany in the last 16, the propensity to needlessly give away possession will be their undoing. So although they have already qualified and the game against Sweden is to see if they finish first or second on the ladder of Group B, this match between Sven and the land of his birth will reveal a lot.

Firstly, it will tell us how England are thinking.

Given that we will know beforehand whether it is Germany or Ecuador who finish top of Group A, you will see if the camp are gung-ho and want to finish top regardless of who they face, or whether they will seek to avoid Germany on home soil.

This will be a fascinating sub-plot and in the unlikely scenario of England not wanting to finish top to avoid the runner-up opponent in another group, you could confidently predict an early journey home for them.

I can't see them doing the former but they could still be on an early flight home unless they improve their general play significantly this week.

The selection problems will be paramount for England now. Will Michael Owen end up on the bench to accommodate the returning Wayne Rooney? Will Joe Cole make way and allow Rooney fill the hole behind the front two in a reshaped format?

Or will Aaron Lennon . . . who turned the game in England's favour on Tuesday evening . . . find instant reward for his ability to get behind a defence and serve the front two?

One thing for sure is that it is the Argentinian type of football . . . intelligent use of the ball and an ability to string telling passes together . . . which will win out every time against the hit and hope which is England's only weapon at the moment. It will wear down a team of honest pros like Trinidad and Tobago but it won't cut the mustard with the higher quality outfits.

There is a feeling about that it is better to start a World Cup in a low-key mode and improve as the weeks go by.

That may apply to Brazil, maybe Italy and Holland too, but it is much deeper than that for England. Unless they get their wagon on the rails fairly quickly, they will be down the siding and out of contention. Tuesday evening in Cologne will tell us a lot more. . .