Beckham special gives England victory

The boot of David Beckham proved the difference and enabled England to progress to the Quarter Finals with a 1-0 win over Ecuador at Stuttgart this morning (AEST).

The game was played in difficult, steamy conditions which were perfect for the Ecuador team, but not so for England.

England started the game well with plenty of crisp passing between players, but they were not really going forward in the way that they would have liked.

Ecuador were bent on imposing their physicality, and then in the 11th minute John terry made an uncharacteristic mistake, when he failed to control a header allowing Carlos Tenorio through on goal.

Tenorio appeared to have Paul Robinson beaten, but a last ditch effort by Ashley Cole saw the strike take a deflection and hit the cross bar and avert early disaster for England.

In a game that seemed to seesaw, the next real chance fell to Steven Gerrard through a swift one, two with Frank Lampard, but the Liverpool skipper could only scoop the short over the bar. Seconds later Ecuador had a set piece at the other end and Rio Ferdinand sliced his block inches wide of the upright as England breathed a sigh of relief once again.

As the game continued with both teams not exercising any real authority, the Ecuador team fouled just outside their box and Beckham showed how dangerous he could be hitting his attempt just past the right post of goalkeeper Mora.

Overall the first half was rather dull but dominated by Ecuador, who though they had less possession looked better with the ball, and were dominating down England’s right side where Owen Hargreave looked forlorn.

Immediately after the teams came out for the second half England applied the pressure, and began asking questions of the Ecuador defence, who eventually under the weight of that pressure gave up a free kick not far outside their box. It was ominous.

As so often happens, the first free kick from Beckham was a warning shot. At the hour mark, he made no mistake and kicked the ball as only he can, dipping the shot over the wall and into the bottom right hand corner of Christian Mora’s net.

For the first time in three years Beckham had scored for England, and once again at the World Cup he became the difference maker.

At the 65th minute Catsillo forced a save out of a diving Robinson, and soon after as the game opened up and Wayne Rooney had a chance but the shot was saved by Mora at full stretch.

The toll that this game was taking was evident as the England captain became physically ill on the pitch, and in the 84th minute having done his job was replaced by Aaron Lennon.

England managed to hold on for the rest of the game, and the fans will continue with the mantra “in Beckham we trust”, but if England are to put away the slick skilled Portuguese team in the Quarter Finals they will need to have far more fluency in attack.

•  Have a view on this story? Send us your feedback!