England have beaten arch-rivals Argentina in the World Cup by one goal to nil, in a nail-biting showdown in Sapporo, Japan.
England took the lead with a David Beckham spot kick on 44 minutes after Michael Owen was taken down in the box. It is the first time England have beaten the Argentines since 1966, when the team went on to win the World Cup.
Despite a barrage of attacks from Argenina in the second half, England put up a sterling performance to hang on to their lead.
England's Swedish manager Sven-Goran Eriksson said after the game: "I am very pleased, it was very hard for the last fifteen minutes.
"I think we deserved to win the game, and we played good football for 70 - 75 minutes".
England now only need a draw against Nigeria to progress to the next round of the World Cup. Argentina need to beat Sweden - who beat Nigeria 2-1 this morning - to progress. Millions of English people stopped work to see their soccer team resume hostilities with Argentina in what was being billed as an opportunity for England to restore pride and exact revenge for their previous meetings with Argentina.
- Punters who bet on England beating Argentina 1-0 won a six figure sum from William Hill today but the bookies are still celebrating with the rest of England.
Beckham was 15/2 to score a penalty and 12/1 to score the first goal of the game. Punters predicting the correct score and that Beckham would score the goal collected at 66/1.
Odds on England winning the World Cup were immediately slashed from 14/1 to 8/1.
