Eriksson sees room for improvement

Owen (l) celebrates his goal with Beckham

England coach Sven Goran Eriksson was delighted with his side's 3-1 win over Albania, but disappointed with the sloppy goal they gave away.

Second-half goals from Michael Owen, Paul Scholes and Andy Cole earned the win for England.

But a mistake by Rio Ferdinand allowed Albanian substitute Altin Rraklli to score near the end, leaving England with an anxious finish to the game.

Eriksson said: "It was a difficult game. In the first-half we played very well, but couldn't score.

"In the second half we played even better and scored three goals.

"The only bad thing was the goal that Albania scored - I didn't understand it.

Eriksson also had words of praise for Ashley Cole, who he told would make his international debut only at lunchtime.

"Ashley did really well," said Eriksson. "He was very quick and was very calm before the game now we can say we have got two good left defenders."

He also praised Owen, whose second-half goal broke the deadlock just as he had done against Finland on Saturday.

"Owen's was a very important goal today, it came at just the right time," added the satisfied England coach.