Sweden joins England in second round

England and Sweden played out a 2-2 draw to ensure both progressed to the second round from Group B, while Paraguay chalked up their first win of the World Cup with a 2-0 victory over Trinidad & Tobago to end the Caribbean nation’s hopes of making the knockout phase.

England wrapped up top spot in the group with the draw, but their World Cup hopes took a nosedive after four minutes when striker Michael Owen went down with a serious knee injury that will put him out for months, and leaves England manager Sven Goran Eriksson with only two true strikers in his squad.

Joe Cole lifted England’s spirits with a driven shot from outside the area just past the half hour, and they held their lead until the break.

But five minutes after the restart Swedish defender Marcus Allback nodded home a corner taken from Tobias Linderoth to level, and Sweden almost took the lead minutes later when Henrik Larsson’s header was tipped onto the bar by Paul Robinson.

It was England who hit the lead again via Steven Gerrard’s 85th minute header, but Larsson struck back for Sweden in the 90th minute to secure a point and their progression to the second round.

England will play South American surprise packer Ecuador in the second round at Stuttgart’s Gotllieb-Daimler Stadion while Sweden faces host Germany in Munich.

In a game that turned out to be irrelevant to who got out of the group, Paraguay defeated Trinidad & Tobago 2-0 in Kaiserslautern thanks to a Brent Sancho own goal and a late Nelson Cuevas strike.

After competing well in their first two group games to get a point and a slim chance of coming second in the group, Trinidad & Tobago needed a sizable win and a Swedish loss to make it through.

But while the Soca Warriors had their chances, it was Sancho who put one away… but in his own net with a header after 25 minutes.

Trinidad & Tobago kept piling on the pressure in a desperate effort to get the win, but Cuevas ended their hopes with five minutes of normal time after he finished off some neat passing with a clean shot past keeper Kelvin Jack to give Paraguay their only points of the campaign.

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