England defeat Argentina

England 1, Argentina 0 (full-time)

England skipper David Beckham completed a one-man revenge mission by kicking England to a win over Argentina in Sapporo this afternoon.

Beckham drove home a 42nd minute penalty to take England to the brink of the second round after Michael Owen had tumbled under Mauricio Pochettino’s challenge.

The win, their first against Argentina since 1966, was founded on an inspirational midfield performance from Nicky Butt.

England now need just a point from their meeting with already-eliminated Nigeria next Wednesday to advance to the next stage, while Argentina must beat Sweden at the same time.

England had been under pressure in the opening stages as Juan Sebastian Veron and Ariel Ortega tried to impose their authority on the game.

David Seaman was forced to collect a deep cross to deny Gabriel Batistuta a scoring opportunity and the Arsenal keeper then made a smart save from Javier Zanetti’s 20-yard shot.

Zanetti also caught Owen Hargreaves with a tackle which left the Bayern Munich man needing extensive treatment, and eventually forced him off altogether.

England though continued to battle and as the match descended into a physical contest, gradually gained in confidence.

Having already been yellow carded for a brutal late challenge on Ashley Cole, Batistuta tried the patience of Italian referee Pierluigi Collina by leading with his elbow as he tried to challenge Beckham for a midfield header.

The England skipper blasted the free-kick into the wall but the fractured nature of the contest continued as Diego Simeone fouled Paul Scholes before Cole caught Ortega with a crude challenge.

Cole was finally booked after being lured into a late tackle by Ortega and with Argentina finding space down the right, the Arsenal full-back was starting to become exposed, particularly as substitute Trevor Sinclair was concentrating most of his energies on attacking the opposition defence.

However, while that was of some concern to England, they were also starting to present Argentina with some severe problems.

Owen ran at Walter Samuel inside the South Americans’ penalty area and found enough space to drive a shot past Pablo Cavallero which agonisingly crashed back off a post.

Seaman saved Batistuta’s header as Argentina countered, but Sinclair - whose arrival allowed Scholes to move into his preferred central position - weaved his way into the box at the other end before producing a weak cross which was easily cleared.

Owen and Butt combined to set up Scholes for a long range effort which struck an Argentine defender. Within a minute, England were in front.

The Liverpool hit-man picked up possession on the edge of the area and Pochettino panicked.

The full-back lunged in, caught Owen just below the knee and when the striker tumbled down, Collina pointed to the spot.

Beckham smashed the ball past Cavallero.

After surviving until half-time, England almost doubled their advantage within three minutes of the re-start when Owen took on Pochettino again then drove just wide of the left-hand post with Cavallero beaten again.

Veron was a notable absentee at the start of the second period, replaced by Pablo Aimar through injury.

Scholes was the next to try his luck for England but this time the Argentine keeper was up to the task, beating away the Manchester United man’s long range shot.

Beckham muscled his way past Diego Placente but couldn’t find the target from eight yards as England continued to press.

Heskey was replaced by Teddy Sheringham after 55 minutes and his first touch was a volley from Scholes’ crossfield pass which Cavallero punched away.

Argentina were reeling and threw on Hernan Crespo for Batistuta as the hour mark passed, followed shortly afterwards by Claudio Lopez who replaced Gonzalez as the South Americans tried to get themselves back into the game.

The balance did start to shift as the clock ticked down, England not knowing whether to press forward or hold their advantage and Sven-Goran Eriksson made the decision for them by taking off Owen for Wayne Bridge and leaving Sheringham up front on his own.

Seaman had already produced a brilliant save to deny Pochettino and Argentina camped themselves in enemy territory.