Our task of qualifying is not over

It was a match where it would be amiss to pick out individuals such was the strength of the team performance. I feel Nicky Butt deserved the plaudits he got though. He hadn't played a match for five weeks or so, due to injury, so to go straight back and give what I felt was his best performance in an England shirt was some achievement.

Lots of people have asked what the atmosphere was like after the game. I did make reference in my last column to the way the Argentinians left us after the last World Cup.

Naturally, there was a fair bit of shouting as we went down the tunnel after the game but I'm proud to say that the lads showed great dignity in victory.

Our bus was parked right next to the opposition, the same as four years ago, but we refrained from rubbing their noses in it. I hope this was appreciated because I was a bit disappointed that they wouldn't swap shirts after the game. That for me is one of the great traditions of international football but doubtless they had their reasons.

Travelling back from the game a lot of us phoned friends and family at home. We could hear cars tooting their horns in the background and it was great to know that we had brought that much pleasure to the country. It must have been some week back there following on from the Jubilee celebrations.

After the match the boys who have got family out here were able to see them for a couple of hours back at our hotel. That was a bonus as it is some four weeks since we left England. For many of the boys this will be the longest time they have spent away from home.

We were given a day off from training yesterday, which was advisable, because there is a lot of travelling to and from the games and rest is very important.

The highlight of the day was being able to watch the Lewis-Tyson fight which took place at lunchtime over here. The lads got really involved and there was banter flying around. It also made a nice change to watch a world title fight and not have to sit up until the early hours of the morning.

Amidst all the relaxation and backslapping though, we are very conscious that the task of qualifying from this group is far from over. We need a positive result against Nigeria to make certain of our progress and they will be wounded having gone out of the tournament.

Victory on Wednesday will require exactly the same commitment shown last week. The win over Argentina needs to be the starting point for us, not the high spot.