England - 1 Argentina - 0WORLD CUP 2002: Football's eternal mysteries continue. When David Beckham, the golden celebrity presence in a prosaic game, slipped home a penalty just before half-time last night in the Sapporo Dome the act had an air of decisiveness which made everything that came afterwards seem inevitable.

England playing well, if without beauty, always had enough in their pockets to cope with an Argentina side whose reputations sunk as the night went on.

In the slightly ersatz atmosphere of the Dome, England drew considerable revenge for the litany of footballing woes visited upon them by their old rivals. More importantly, perhaps, they placed themselves in pole position to top their group.

That is a circumstance which scarcely seemed possible after England's palsied performance against Sweden. Last night, playing against most people's favourites to win the competition, the English needed to be at once more cerebral and more passionate about their football. They produced.

Sven-Goran Eriksson had opted to play down the blood and guts dimension to the evening and anyone who saw the Argentina team bus arriving would have wondered if he was correct in doing so. Packed and with the windows open and flags flying out, some of the most expensive players in the world were having the sort of singsong which made their Irish counterparts look monastically contemplative by comparison. Argentina may have left their best on the bus.

The tactical collision was fascinating. England reverted to a meat and potatoes four-four-two set-up while Marcelo Bielsa rigged his side out in their fluid 3-3-1-3 fashion. Early on, with little evidence that Juan Sebastian Veron was misfiring and with Gabriel Batistuta on fire, Argentina looked ready for business. Javier Zanetti burgled the English defence early on and a little later Mauricio Pochettino backheeled to Kily Gonzalez, who smoked the ball just wide of David Seaman's post.

England's simplicity is not without its virtues though. They played their way into the game with muscular determination which the Argentinians distracted themselves by trying to match.

England lost Owen Hargreaves after 19 minutes, an upset which saw them bring Trevor Sinclair on to forage the left wing. That left Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes in the centre of the park chaperoning Veron, their out-of-sorts club colleague (well, one of them).

Sinclair tucks in cleverly and suddenly Ashley Cole is working the Argentina right wing with profit. Sinclair's electric burst of pace made England look the stronger for his presence.

Logic said that England shouldn't be breaking-even in midfield what with Butt and Beckham struggling for match fitness and Scholes coming off the back of a feeble season. Logic doesn't attend World Cups though and Diego Simeone and Veron suffered while Zanetti produced only flashes of what he is capable of.

Then there was the babyfaced bogeyman whom Argentine mothers warn their children about. Michael Owen on 25 minutes brought back memories of St Etienne 1998 when a wonderful pass from Butt saw him scamper into the area and thread the ball through the legs of Walter Samuel. It came off the far post with a shudder that ran all the way through the Argentina side.

The game was energised, lit up. Batistuta smacked a header into Seaman's hands within 20 seconds, Owen was up to mischief in the Argentine area again before even a minute had elapsed. A game that never lived up to its billing had its best period. The breakthrough, when it came, was England's and wasn't undeserved.

Owen, jigging in the box yet again, went down under a clumsy challenge from Pochettino. A clear penalty and none of the diving of St Etienne. Amid a lightning storm of popping flash bulbs Beckham slotted the penalty.

"It was terrifying," said Beckham afterwards of his moment of poetic justice "because of their antics. The goalie was telling me to put it some way and Simeone was trying to shake my hand, but that's the way they play." Sixty seconds to half-time and a goal to the good. England just had to stay solid.

Argentina came out for the second half breathing fire, but not producing fireworks. Tired of waiting for Veron to produce the telling moment Bielsa withdrew him and sent on the lively Pablo Aimar. They poured at the English in vengeful fury, but the old nightmare kept inhibiting them: Michael Owen. He zipped in for a shot on 47 minutes, was on the end of a Danny Mills cross seconds later. Every time Argentina set themselves for the big assault he reminded them of their Achilles heel.

Owen's performance was all the more remarkable for the fact that Emile Heskey, his partner for the first hour, was doing nothing more strenuous than amply filling a red shirt. Eriksson introduced Teddy Sheringham in the second half and the dividend was a sweet, sweet volley with almost his first touch. Somehow one now knew that England had enough in them to survive. The Great Escape bounced off the Dome's roof and the huge happy England contingent began, in the vernacular, to large it.

Beckham rounded Diego Placente midway through the second half and got a good shot in and one was reminded that Argentina had yet to produce anything so clear-cut. Bielsa, the great Argentinian tactician, looked suddenly like a man who had thought too much about a simple game.

Aimar, Hernan Crespo and Claudio Lopez, his three subs, all threw themselves forward gamely but the magnificent, implacable Rio Ferdinand and his deputy Sol Campbell read everything as if telegraphed advance warning.

Argentina pressed with diminishing returns. Simeone had a good header cleared off the line. Seaman's gloves got plenty of action but the final threaded ball, the moment of genius one expects of greats sides, never came. Or was never permitted to come.

"It pleased me," said Eriksson, "that we played football for more than 45 minutes, we came out in the second half and created some chances and did very well and played with a big, big heart. We have to work very, very hard to go further, though."

SUBSTITUTES: England - Sinclair for Hargreaves (19 mins), Sheringham for Heskey (56), Bridge for Owen (80). Argentina - Aimar for Veron (45 mins), Crespo for Batistuta (60), Claudio Lopez for Gonzalez (64).

YELLOW CARDS: England - Ashley Cole, Heskey. Argentina - Batistuta.