GLENN HODDLE spoke for the entire country yesterday when he hailed the heroes who restored English pride, kicking off their World Cup campaign with a 2-0 victory over Tunisia. Captain Alan Shearer, leading by example, headed the opener just before half-time and Paul Scholes wrapped up a morale-lifting win with a classic curled finish at the death.

No wonder then that after the disgraceful scenes in Marseille over the previous 48 hours - and, of course, the lethargic warm-up campaign - the coach was only too pleased to face the media and enthuse about optimism rather than diffuse their criticism. And that change in mood served to highlight the enormous improvement in the players' efforts from those ghastly friendlies against Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Belgium.

Hoddle beamed: I'm delighted to get going with a win and to get three points. It's been a long time coming around but the performance really arrived at the right time. We stamped our authority on the game. I was delighted for Shearer and Scholes. The first goal pleased me especially as we have worked on the set-piece in training and it's always good when they come off. Alan didn't get many chances, but when it came he took it and that's the captain for you. Young Scholes was simply terrific, along with Sol Campbell. His finish was world class. The boy's getting better and better, but I don't think he'll get carried away by this. He's a good lad and he'll keep his feet on the ground and, hopefully, will continue to put in performances like this.