"I don't feel like a hero," he said.

"I have a very good football team and that's important."

England's display against Denmark will have sent shockwaves around the world of football but Sven and the boys are refusing to get carried away.

"I never talk about winning the World Cup, only the next game," he said.

"Here we are now in the Quarter Finals of the World Cup and of course we are happy to be there but the focus must now be on reaching the Semi-Final.

"I think we have done a very professional job so far. Sometimes we have played some very good football and sometimes we have defended very well.

"The players are getting better and better each game. The back four are very difficult to break down, Beckham is now almost 100% match fit and Michael Owen has started scoring."

Sven is not a coach given to praising individual players but he understandably made an exception for his captain, David Beckham.

Of England's five goals so far, Becks has scored one and set up three of the other four.

"As a passer, crosser and reader of the game, he's fantastic," admitted Sven.

"I'm not surprised he's been involved in almost all of our goals. I don't know if there's anyone better in the world."

Attention now is firmly focused on our Quarter Final on Friday against as yet unknown opponents.

"Brazil are the favourites," Sven believes, "but Belgium can surprise you and you never know in a knock-out."

There is no doubt that Sven is an admirer of Brazil and would relish the chance to pit his wits against the South Americans, should they progress.

"It's always beautiful to see Brazil play football," he said. "They seem to be born with a ball at their feet.

"It would have been nice to play them in final!"

Sven also paid tribute to the wonderful support that he and his side have received here in Japan.

Fans lined the streets of Niigata into the early hours of Sunday morning and Sven is delighted to have been able to repay their backing with such an emphatic victory.
"I have always been proud very proud to have this job," he said. "It's a huge job and that's why I took it.

"The support is absolutely fantastic - when we are traveling around there are people everywhere. I wouldn't have imagined that it could be like this."

A measure of Sven's generosity of sprit was shown when, even in the most dramatic throws of England's World Cup campaign, he still had time to offer his heartfelt congratulations to his mentor, Bobby Robson, following the legendary manager's Knighthood.

"I am extremely pleased and happy about that," he said with a smile. "I met him first in 1981 when I was a nobody with Gothenburg and he was the manager of Ipswich. He invited me to sit on the bench with him and I couldn't believe it.

"He is a gentleman and he deserves it."

Many performances like this Sven, and so will you.