England's Euro 2000 dream lives on - and I was thrilled to witness such a brave, defiant performance by Kevin Keegan's team.

Victory over Germany has been a long time coming, and inside the Charleroi Stadium you sensed what it meant to every Englishman - fans, players, officials and even ex-managers like me - to be present when history was made.

The whole nation will be lifted by this win. Everyone at home must now believe we've finally over-come one of our great bogey sides and I'm sure we can beat Romania on Tuesday to progress into the quarter-finals.

As a former England player and coach I won't try to camouflage my delight at this result. I've been part of that 34-year wait for a victory.

It wasn't brilliant football but it was effective. And it was a lovely sight to see the Germans, of all people, reduced to pumping long balls into our penalty area during the closing 15 minutes.

So often in the past the tactical boot has been on the other foot and we have been the team trying to come to terms with the sense of frustration and failure.

I was particularly delighted for two people - Kevin Keegan and Alan Shearer. I said before the competition began that if Shearer was given opportunities to score he would dispatch them. We set him up just once in this game, so his strike rate was impeccable.

He led the attack with power and he clearly frustrated the opposition defenders. He has endured a lot of bitter criticism in the past few days, and a lot of the things said about him were completely unfair, but Alan is a strong-minded man who knows how to deliver the perfect riposte.

Kevin was spot-on with his tactical substitutions this time. There was no need to take risks, so on the hour he sent on Steven Gerrard as an extra midfielder and withdrew Michael Owen.

I've always supported the idea of using Paul Scholes in the old Teddy Sheringham role just behind Shearer, and he did that job well until he was replaced by Nicky Barmby.

It was a massive test for Gerrard. He rose to the occasion well and he played a couple of incisive first-time passes to show he has settled in well.

David Beckham, meanwhile, had clearly been made a target for one or two late challenges but I was still disappointed to see him respond by receiving a yellow card for what was essentially a needless tackle on Ulf Kirsten. But David later showed the wonderfully creative side to his game by delivering the free kick that created the chaos in the German defence which gave Shearer the opening to score his goal.

But the turning point in the game, for me, was Owen's header 10 minutes before the interval. Germany had taken control early on and we looked like a team still troubled by the setback of losing our opening game to Portugal.

But that Owen header, which brought a brilliant save from Oliver Kahn, turned the tide in England's favour.

It was interesting to see that for the remainder of the first half the Bayern Munich keeper was keen to waste time and ease his team towards the sanctuary of the break.

Kahn realised that England had finally built up a head of steam and it was important that we exploited that situation.

Shearer's header ensured his headline status but the other crucial factor that I noticed was the organisation and the sense of resilience among the back four and the midfield during those last 15 minutes.

Those boys were magnificent when the pressure was put on them and I'm sure they will gain great personal satisfaction from playing their part in this victory.

The support for England here was deafening. I think we all realised that the sweet victory over the Germans for which we've waited so long was about to happen.

I was always worried about the Portugal game when this qualifying group was drawn, even though I believe they don't possess enough quality or resources in defence.

Equally, I was convinced we'd beat Germany - and now we head to the Romania game with a wonderful chance to progress further.

Romania are a hot and cold side. I watched their game against Portugal and thought they were very average. Gheorghe Hagi has got himself suspended for the England game and without him the heart of the Romanian side will be missing.

I certainly fancy us to win again on Tuesday and begin to build up some real momentum in this competition.

That's what we need if we're going to have a real tilt at getting beyond next weekend's quarterfinals. I've seen virtually the perfect football team in the opening week of the European Championship.

If they had worn those famous yellow shirts we would be raving about this side in the way we have idolised the great Brazil teams of the past. That's how highly I rate World Cup-holders France.

I watched their opening game against Denmark with great interest. I was intrigued to see if they are still hungry for success.

The answer in the 3-0 victory over Peter Schmeichel's side was emphatic. France are a balanced team, physically and mentally. To emphasise their talent, they followed that win by beating a talented Czech Republic side 2-1. The French back four, built around towering athletes and astute footballers such as Marcel Desailly and Lilian Thuram, is solid. Midfielders such as Didier Deschamps and Patrick Vieira can win the ball and pass it well.

But it is in attack that the world champions have become even better. The likes of Thierry Henry, Nicolas Anelka and Sylvain Wiltord have added an extra dimension to the French style. They possess so much pace and can explode past defenders in the attacking third of the field.

I liken this French team to Brazil because they can play at different tempos. We used to hear of how Brazil could play to the samba rhythm, then suddenly switch to a much quicker beat.

France coach Roger Lemerre has a group of players aware of the merits of playing slow, slow, quick, quick football. That's a great collective talent to possess. In my opinion, they're close to perfection, especially with one of my personal favourite players, Zinedine Zidane.

My one concern with France is that they have set off at such a premium standard. Have they hit the heights too soon?

Whatever, the development of those young strikers has given them a better squad now than the one which lifted the World Cup two years ago. If France have started impressively, there has been a sense of disappointment about joint-hosts Holland.

They were lucky to defeat the Czechs. But in the second half against Denmark on Friday they began to gain in confidence. Mark my words, they will get better with each game.

My dark horses for glory are Italy. Coach Dino Zoff has taken them back to their roots. They're tight at the back and love luring the opposition forward, then playing on the break.

Italy are at their most dangerous when the pressure is off and nobody expects them to win. That's how they arrived and Zoff, a cunning old fox, is determined to make the most of it.