Round of 16
England 1, Ecuador 0England captain David Beckham fought through the pain barrier to fire his team into the World Cup quarter-finals on Sunday, scoring the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Ecuador.
Beckham, who had been struck down by a stomach bug before kick-off and vomited on the pitch during the match, curled in a trademark free-kick on 60 minutes to become the first Englishman to score goals in three World Cups.
His sweetly struck winner set up a showdown with Portugal in Gelsenkirchen on Saturday and was the perfect riposte to critics who have questioned whether he is still worthy of a place in England's starting line-up.
"It was nice to silence a few people who have been critical. I can handle my criticism and I'll prove them wrong," Beckham said.
He said that Real Madrid teammate Roberto Carlos had sent him a texted phone message urging him to score a free-kick.
"I have been struggling with free-kicks in training and Wazza [Wayne Rooney] said to me before the match, `You have been terrible for the past two days so you are going to get one tonight.' And I got a text message from Roberto Carlos saying `score me a free-kick.' It brought me good luck," Beckham said.
He was not concerned by England's poor form and believes they will improve as the tournament progresses.
"It was ugly, but we'll take it. We're in the quarter-finals and we haven't performed as well as we can do. But it will come," Beckham said.
Beckham admitted he had been physically sick shortly after scoring.
"I did not feel well before the game but then I was fine in the first half. In the second half though it just came out,," he said.
But his first international goal for 13 matches could not mask another lackluster display from England, who again looked vulnerable at set-pieces and struggled to click in hot, humid conditions at the Gottlieb-Daimler Stadion.
Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson's decision to unveil yet another new-look line-up fell some way short of being a resounding success, with Tottenham midfielder Michael Carrick unconvincing in the midfield holding role.
England also looked desperately bereft of penetration in attack, where too often Rooney was forced to chase lost causes in his unfamiliar role as the lone striker in a 4-1-4-1 formation.
On the odd occasions where England did threaten, poor finishing let them down, with out-of-form Frank Lampard missing a golden opportunity to kill the game on 73 minutes when he blazed over after a superb cut-back from Rooney.
Eriksson insisted he was happy with his tactics.
"We all know that we can play better football but I think in the four games we played we have showed that we can play better and better and better. The best is yet to come," Eriksson said.
"But it's strange, and very good for us to be qualified for the quarter-finals but knowing you can play better. I would be very concerned if we'd lost two or three games and were out of the tournament. But we're in a quarter-final again amongst the best eight teams. I'm not concerned, I'm rather proud of that," he said.
Eriksson paid tribute to Beckham's match-winning performance but resisted the temptation to snipe back at his captain's critics.
"I have stopped saying anything to the critics when the subject is David Beckham," Eriksson said. "He's the best player for set pieces in the world and he's still criticized."
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