Middle England casts its vote for Europe

England 6 Iceland 1

Suddenly, optimism is in the air again. Having started the afternoon worried about setting sail for Euro 2004 after six games without a win - which would have been their worst record for 23 years - England finished it with their biggest victory since Kevin Keegan's side beat a feeble Luxembourg at Wembley in September 1999. Iceland, if weak in defence, were sterner opposition than that, and there was much to admire in the performance achieved by 22 different players.

Suddenly, optimism is in the air again. Having started the afternoon worried about setting sail for Euro 2004 after six games without a win - which would have been their worst record for 23 years - England finished it with their biggest victory since Kevin Keegan's side beat a feeble Luxembourg at Wembley in September 1999. Iceland, if weak in defence, were sterner opposition than that, and there was much to admire in the performance achieved by 22 different players.

Further injuries were avoided, and although David Beckham has had an injection in his back to drain off some fluid, Sven Goran Eriksson was adamant that he will resume training on Tuesday along with everyone else.

At the final whistle, the whole squad assembled on the pitch to wave their farewells to a Manchester crowd feeling considerably better about the prospects for the tournament than they had been following last Tuesday night's draw with Japan. The diamond formation that failed to glitter then was replaced by a more straightforward 4-4-2, which was effective in both halves and may prove the lesser of two evils, but is still not necessarily the best way to combat France a week today.

To that extent, it was almost too successful, as was Everton's Wayne Rooney in scoring two good goals within 12 minutes. Eriksson will find it difficult to drop him now in order to play an extra midfielder next Sunday in a game England do not want to lose. Similarly, it will be hard to revert to the diamond with Nicky Butt as a marker, a tactic the Swede had been banking on for months to crowd the French midfield and stop Zinedine Zid-ane. "In many games we played 4-4-2 and did it well, and the diamond we did extremely well, so I can't see any problems," Eriksson said. Well, yes and no. Keeping options open is all very well, but the problem lies in needing to choose the right one for Lisbon's Stadium of Light.

The shape of the midfield was the main point of interest before the anticipated rash of half-time substitutions. Frank Lampard was again preferred to Butt in the centre of it, and did well, this time with Steven Gerrard alongside. Playing that pair in their favourite slots meant that Beckham and Paul Scholes could not be in theirs, instead having to operate out wide.

While Beckham, despite operating centrally for Real Madrid, can at least call on 10 years' experience on the flank, Scholes has rarely been comfortable there. The best example came when he and England suffered a miserable first half away to Slovakia before he reverted to the tip of a diamond midfield and a 1-0 deficit was transformed into a critical 2-1 victory.

Yesterday he achieved a better balance between staying wide and cutting inside, creating two of the goals without managing to end his three-year run of internationals without scoring. With Iceland playing Eidur Gudjohnsen in the hole just between two strikers, much as France will use Zidane, England's system often mutated into a diamond shape anyway, with Gerrard sitting deeper and Lampard pushing forward, as he is best equipped to do.

Scholes, meanwhile, recovered well from the disappointment of missing a wonderful chance only four minutes into the game. Gary Neville set him up with a cross into the six-yard box that in the red shirt of Manchester United Scholes, you felt, would have tucked away without thinking. In England red, he side-footed a volley over the bar.

Lampard was guilty of a worse miss in the 20th minute, heading Beckham's corner wide when unmarked, yet neither man allowed the frustration to put them off, combining instead for the first goal five minutes afterwards. Lampard played a pass to Scholes from the halfway line and took the return before shooting from 20 yards, the ball deflecting past Arni Arason off Charlton's Hermann Hreidarsson.

There might also have been a Man-chester City goalkeeper at each end, but although Arason won his 37th cap, David James was rested to allow Tottenham's new signing Paul Robinson a valuable first senior start. Jamie Carragher, preferred in the championship squad to Birmingham's specialist centre-half Matthew Upson because of his versatility, stood in effectively for John Terry, whose hamstring strain is an alarming development even though Eriksson insists he will be ready for the opening match.

Iceland, if unlucky for the first goal, were negligent in conceding again within 90 seconds. In another move often seen down the years at Old Trafford, Neville burst into space to collect Beckham's quick throw and composed himself for a low cross that Rooney, left all alone, scooped in with his right foot. It would have been three goals in as many minutes had the referee's assistant not wrongly given Michael Owen offside as he ran on to score from an astute Scholes pass. There was not long to wait for another one that counted in any case, Lampard and Scholes (with a smart lay-off) setting up Rooney to drive nonchalantly past the goalkeeper from 25 yards.

A clean sheet would have been a bonus to take to Portugal, but that prospect disappeared just before the interval, when Iceland were allowed to score with their second attempt on goal. The defending was loose as Hreidarsson headed back into the danger area from a corner, Ivar Ingimarsson nudging on and Watford's Heidar Helguson heading home.

Carragher and Robinson, who was later replaced by Ian Walker, stayed on at the start of the second half in a second XI captained by Butt that was full of players with something to prove. The tempo was high, especially in the first 20 minutes, which began with Emile Heskey apparently handling in the penalty area as he charged down Gudjohnsen's free-kick.

Ledley King, a scorer in Portugal earlier this year, almost added another, heading a corner against the bar before Thordor Gudjonsson cleared off the line, and in the 56th minute another corner led to Owen Hargreaves shooting and Darius Vassell deflecting the ball in. A minute later Joe Cole, full of tricks, failed to do the easy thing in rolling Kieron Dyer's cross wide from a few yards out. But within 10 minutes there was a first international goal for Wayne Bridge from Heskey's downward header.

If there was a suggestion of a defender having had the last touch for Vassell's first goal, no such ambiguity surrounded the Villa striker's effort in the 76th minute, as he secured the biggest win of Eriksson's three years in charge by exchanging passes with Heskey and curling a delicious shot inside a post. Party mood and Mexican waves swamped the ground - and so to Lisbon.