England's draw with South Korea may have done little to whet the appetite ahead of the World Cup proper, but Sven-Goran Eriksson will have been reassured that his judgement has been proved correct.

The team that began the friendly looked powerful, pacy and inventive. The second-half line-up - England B, basically - were far less comfortable either in attack or defence in the 4-3-3 formation.

There will be little head-scratching for Eriksson after this. If anything, it was confirmation that it is difficult to criticise his choices.

This was more about Eriksson giving a couple of players a chance to prove themselves, and two who raised their prospects from 'possible' to 'probable' were Owen Hargreaves and Danny Mills.

Hargreaves, the young Bayern Munich star, was the man of the match, with a display of intelligence, superb athleticism and no little skill in the centre of midfield.

The Canadian-born player filled the defensive role in midfield with aplomb, and may have inched ahead of Nicky Butt in Eriksson's reckoning as the man to replace Steven Gerrard.

Furthermore, Butt always plays an understudy role for Manchester United. Eriksson will ask himself if he really wants to go into the World Cup with a player who cannot even make it into his regular club's first XI.

If 21-year-old Hargreaves left the field with a smile on his face, then Mills is the other man who will have been gleeful about his game.

There were many voices clamouring for Wes Brown to be given the right-back spot in place of the injured Gary Neville. Eriksson prefers not to pick players out of position - Brown usually plays at centre-back from Manchester United - and his decision to start with Mills looked entirely justified.

Full of running going forward, and implacable in defence, there was no sign of that red mist which has hindered his progress.

By contrast, Brown had a nightmarish 20 minutes at right-back, giving theball away, failing to clear the ball at the right time, and looking unsure of the right position to be in.

The only other dilemma for Eriksson is which formation to choose. If Gerrard and David Beckham were both available, then a 4-4-2 line-up is the natural one .

Without Gerrard, 4-3-3, with Emile Heskey and Darius Vassell switching between attack and wide midfield either side of Owen, looks perhaps the better bet.

The 4-3-3 option also removes the need for an out-and-out left midfielder or winger and removes the problem that has beset England.

For those reasons, this could well be the team that starts against Sweden: Seaman, Mills, Ferdinand, Campbell, A Cole; Beckham, Hargreaves, Scholes; Heskey, Owen, Vassell.