England made it through, but it's hard to avoid the feeling that the glass is half empty. We wanted - let's be honest, here - a performance to offer hope for the next game, which is likely to be against a Decent Side. We got one that just posed more questions.
Yes, there were certainly more bright spots than in previous games. The obvious one is that David Beckham can do nothing for most of a match, and still pop up to score with a brilliant set piece. And then throw up, granted, which maybe says something bad about the nerves in the England camp.
More happy news: Wayne Rooney's recovery continues, and despite not being played in his strongest position - off another striker - he still managed to look England's most creative, dangerous force.
Finally, Ashley Cole's dash and tackle in the 12th minute, to deflect Carlos Tenorio's shot onto the bar, was as fine a piece of defending as you're going to see this World Cup.
But one bright performance and a couple of individual moments of brilliance do not a World Cup-winning side make. Or - and sorry to be on a downer here - do they even qualify as much of a recovery from three pretty tepid group performances.
England are improving, but slowly, only doing only just enough to overcome their opponents. Eventually you've got to be worried that the improvement in performance will be outstripped by the improvement in opposition. Portugal or Holland will provide far tougher examinations than the disappointing Delgado and co.
For all the good points, there are corresponding worries. So Ashley Cole did well - but England's centre halves seem to be taking it in turns to make potentially disastrous errors. Let's not talk about Paul Robinson flopping around the goalmouth. And Rooney, for all his energy, looked isolated without a fellow forward to support him.
And the midfield? Oh, the midfield. There was a little good news - Michael Carrick came in to do a reasonable job in the now near-mystical position of holding midfielder, and Steven Gerrard did a steady if unspectacular job in front of him, using the ball well. But Joe Cole was hardly spotted, and Frank Lampard's was an abject show.
There must now - surely - be a question mark over the Chelsea player's starting place. He and Gerrard sit at the heart of the side; this should be the part of the side that offers up the prompts and the rhythm that carry England forward. Instead, it's a symphony of bum notes.
Lampard, in current form, fails with even straightforward passes, and his shooting is so consistently bad it's hard to imagine this was a player being feted earlier this season for a remarkable tally of goals from midfield for Chelsea. He should have netted one today - after some brilliant trickery by Rooney coming off the wing - but his high, wide blast seemed almost inevitable as he ran on to the ball.
Positionally, he also seems at sea - too often when the opposition play a loose ball into midfield, where you expect to see a white shirt come into shot and collect, it's Lampard who's missing, ten yards too far ahead and failing to make it back.
There has to be a case now for dropping Lampard - but not to return to 4-4-2. Another small bright spot was that this England side looked a little more comfortable, especially early on, in its 4-5-1 arrangement.
Sven could take the opportunity to drop Lampard, move Beckham into the middle and promote the exciting Aaron Lennon for a surprise start. Lennon's pace and trickery - he glowed even in the few minutes he was on the park this afternoon - as well as the genuine width he'd offer on the right might help temper the attacking flair of England's opponents, whoever they might be.
It might also offer the inspirational spark that, so far, only one man - you know who - has looked capable of consistently delivering for England.
