Beckham's Penalty Gives England 1-0 Win over Argentina

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, June 08, 2002

Beckham's Penalty Gives England 1-0 Win over Argentina

David Beckham gained a revenge with a penalty goal in the 44th minute to give England a l-0 win over Argentina in their group F match at the World Cup here on Friday evening.

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Beckham's Penalty Gives England 1-0 Win over Argentina

David Beckham gained a revenge with a penalty goal in the 44th minute to give England a l-0 win over Argentina in their group F match at the World Cup here on Friday evening.

Beckham, who was sent off for a petulant kick on Diego Simeone in the memorable match in his last World Cup game against Argentina four years ago, struck the ball past goalkeeper Pablo Cavallero. Ironically, both Beckham and Simeone captained their countries on Friday after Juan Sebastian Veron was substituted at halftime.

Beckham said after the match that it was "just unbelievable" todefeat Argentina 1-0.

"Better than it did four years ago. it's just unbelievable. This just tops it all off," he said.

Beckham said he was terrified when he came to take the penalty in the 44th minute because he was intimidated by Diego Simone.

England's talented forward Michael Owen danced past an Argentine defender in the penalty box in the 42nd and was brought down by Mauricio Pochettino, which gave his side the deciding penalty kick.

England deserved Friday's 1-0 victory over long time foes Argentina, England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson said.

"I think we deserved to win the game. We played 70 to 75 minutes of good football," he said.

"We played with a big, big heart," he said. "It pleased me thatwe played football for more than 45 minutes.

"This win was very important of course after the first game butwe have to work very, very hard and try to go further on," he added.

In this classic encounter between the two arch-rivals fighting to qualify from the toughest group of this World Cup, Owen, who had scored a brilliant solo goal and also provoked a penalty four years ago in St Etienne, tormented the Argentina defense all evening, hitting a post and firing just wide on another occasion.

Argentina raced back to the other end and Kily Gonzalez crosseddangerously from the left in the 30th but Argentine ace striker Gabriel Batistuta's header went straight into the arms of David Seaman. In the 39th, Gonzalez drove a good chance just over the bar from a deep Batistuta cross.

Batistuta was booked for a late challenge on Ashley Cole in a nervous start to the match and was substituted by Hernan Crespo inthe second half.

England's midfielder Owen Hargreaves injured his knee in an early tackle and was substituted by Trevor Sinclair after 20 minutes.

After the interval, the Argentines dominated the match, laying siege to the England goal but couldn't avoid suffering their firstdefeat in a competitive match since they lost 3-1 to Brazil in a qualifier in Sao Paulo in July 2000.

The second half saw almost all the English players defending inand near the penalty box, and the only striker Owen was also substituted by a defender in the 80th minute.

The win leaves England and Sweden level on four points in groupF with Argentina on three and Nigeria with no points. Argentina, who came to the tournament as favorites, now need to beat Sweden in their final game to advance to the last 16.

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