England hero Jermain Defoe lauded his team-mates' 'brilliant' performance as his goal fired them into the last 16 of the World Cup finals. England controlled large spells of the game and broke from the shackles that inhibited them in lacklustre draws against the USA and Algeria previously.

"We won the game, that's the most important thing," said the Tottenham striker.

"At the end of the day it's a must-win game, it's a cup final so obviously you approach the game differently.

"First 10 minutes we put them under pressure and set the tempo and to get the goal early on was dead on. Then we started to pass it, it was brilliant."

A glut of chances still went begging and Defoe realised the need to be more clinical in front of goal.

He added: "I had an early one (a chance) in the second half, I'm a little bit disappointed with it and should have done better, really. But we've won the game and we're through now so I'm delighted."