England captain's magical touch puts painful memories to rest

Close the chapter, put down the book. The happy ending is written. At 9.14pm here inside a big silver top just south of this city, David Beckham settled the score with Diego Simeone. The Argentinian did not retreat. As the England captain placed the ball on the penalty spot, he tried to shake Beckham by the hand. But this time the gesture was borne of desperation, not the instinctive cynicism of Saint-Etienne.

Beckham looked away, but the camera caught the concentration on his face, the deep intake of breath which marked the battle within. What went through his mind then would be worth a book of its own. Beckham had not been playing with his usual verve, had no right to after a mere 63 minutes of football in two months. His free-kicks and corners betrayed his fragile confidence. His timing was off, his left foot was sore and his right was letting him down; all that remained was the ringcraft of a seasoned pro.

Simeone knew all that, of course, and when Owen was tripped by Mauricio Pochettino just before half-time in a match which England realistically had to win, no one on the Argentina side needed a map to locate the nerve ends.

"He came up to me and I think he was trying to shake me by the hand, but I was just trying to blank him out," said Beckham with a smile of a gunslinger who has waited a long time to get the sun at his back. "I didn't want to make eye contact because I was concentrating so hard on what I wanted to do with the ball. There were a few antics going on which we knew there would be. But Butty and Scholesy came in and that's the last I saw of him. The keeper was also telling me where he wanted me to put it."

The penalty which ended Argentina's unbeaten run of 19 matches and finally dispatched the demons will take its due place in the imagery of Beckham's life. Well, after the free-kick at Old Trafford or his first goal for England in the last World Cup against Colombia. But, in its way, the ramrod certainty of the shot was an act of profound bravery. He could have bequeathed his duties, but banished the thought. To the left of the keeper, tuck it to the right, lift it high like Alan Shearer, drive it low like Rivaldo, shimmy and chip it like Di Canio, somewhere in the flicking of the files, Beckham decided that power was the priority. Just thump it. And he did, fractionally to Pablo Cavallero's left and with a vengeful force.

Had the Argentinian keeper chosen to dive to his left, the ball might just have cannoned off his body to safety, but he guessed wrong and was left spreadeagled on his goalline as Beckham wheeled away clutching the badge on his shirt in a celebration shared with the whole nation but played out with deliberate relish in front of the ranks of light blue and white shirted supporters.

If the Argentinians reflect on the transformation of a side so bewilderingly inept for the last hour against Sweden, they have only to cast their minds back to the post-match humiliation of the England players in Saint-Etienne. The ugliness that night hurt more than the defeat, lasted longer in the mind and a steady queue of England players had vowed vengeance this past week.

It was not a pretty match, not even a very good one. But who cared? For long periods, England played like Argentina, slowing the game down, counter-attacking with purpose and, in one move which ended with Teddy Sheringham's searing volley over the bar, real class. Mostly, England mounted a rearguard action of rare organisation and resilience. And, at the end, Beckham sought out Simeone to shake his hand and look him in the eye once more.

Minute-by-minute: how the drama unfolded in Sapporo

3: Owen Hargreaves is injured in collision with Michael Owen as they tangle with Javier Zanetti and Mauricio Pochettino. While he is off the field for treatment, Argentina take charge and, although the Bayern Munich midfielder carries on for a quarter of an hour, he is replaced by Trevor Sinclair.

6: While England are temporarily reduced to 10 men, Argentina land the first attempts on goal ­ a tame shot by Zanetti and a fierce drive from Kily Gonzalez, who was distracted at the last moment by Nicky Butt and fires wide.

24: Butt dispossesses his Manchester United team-mate, Juan Sebastian Veron, and sends Owen on his way to unhinge the Argentinian defence with his pace for the first but not the last time. Owen's shot is driven through Walter Samuel's legs and strikes the post.

25: Gabriel Batistuta, who, having been booked for a foul on Ashley Cole, is lucky to stay on the pitch following an elbow in David Beckham's face, has his one chance of the match, meeting a flick from Kily Gonzalez with a header straight at David Seaman.

43: Owen, again running at the Argentinian defence, cuts inside Pochettino, who naïvely brings the Liverpool striker down in the area to concede the decisive penalty. Beckham drives the spot-kick almost straight at Pablo Cavallero but with such power that the goalkeeper barely has time to move before the ball strikes the net.

46: At half-time Marcelo Bielsa removes his ineffectual captain, Juan Sebastian Veron, for the far livelier figure of Valencia's Pablo Aimar, who is to trouble the resolute England defence throughout, although his shooting is not the equal of his approach play.

48: Running on to a long ball, Owen turns Diego Placente to gain a clear sight of goal, although his shot goes perhaps a yard wide of the left-hand post. Immediately afterwards, following some of England's best football of the night, Paul Scholes seizes on Emile Heskey's charged-down drive and his shot from 25 yards would have made it 2-0 but for a fine double-fisted punch from Cavallero.

55: Placente is again turned, this time by Beckham, who squeezes his shot past the post. Immediately, Sven Goran Eriksson replaces Heskey with Teddy Sheringham and with almost his first touch the Tottenham striker unleashes a volley that stretches Cavallero.

59: Argentina replace Batistuta with Hernan Crespo and four minutes later Bielsa plays his last card by removing Kily Gonzalez in favour of Claudio Lopez. The latter substitution was to be slightly more effective than the previous one.

70: In what was to prove England's last significant attack of the game, a back-flicked header from Sheringham drifts past the post. Ten minutes later Eriksson withdraws Owen and virtually the entire team spend the remainder of the match behind the ball.

74: Pochettino heads Aimar's free-kick wide but three minutes later comes Argentina's best chance for an equaliser as Pochettino's downward header is saved dramatically on the line by Seaman. Despite constant pressure, Argentina will not go so close again.

By Tim Rich