Football: 'Pleasing peformance'

GLENN HODDLE, the England coach, was pleased with his team's debut in the World Cup. "It's been a long time waiting for the tournament to come round and we've stamped our authority on it," he said. "I'm delighted with the start we've made. We could have won by more goals, but I'm pleased with the performance and the result. We were solid as a side right the way through and I was delighted that we limited their chances and created a lot ourselves."

Of the goalscorers, Alan Shearer and Paul Scholes, Hoddle said: "Alan's reputation goes before him. He had a limited number of chances today but scored a goal out of nothing and that's what a world-class striker can do. Paul Scholes looked at home out there and that was good to see. I felt he and Sol Campbell put in tremendous performances and Paul's finish was world class. He's a good lad, he'll keep his feet on the ground and I don't think he'll get carried away with the performance."

Asked why he had selected Darren Anderton ahead of David Beckham in the right wing back position, all Hoddle would say was that he was "very pleased with Darren Anderton's performance."

Shearer said scoring took a bit of pressure off him. "There's high expectation of me, everyone's saying I'll score the goals to shoot England to victory. I've got one in, so it should keep people quiet for a game at least."

Scholes was understandably delighted with his goal. "It's the best feeling in my life so far," he said. "It was a great ball from Incey [Paul Ince] and originally I was going to play a one-two with him, but I just hit it and thankfully it's gone in. I had two chances in the first half and I should have scored both of them, but in the end I was just glad to get one. I've got to try and keep my place now and hopefully keep scoring goals."