He shoots. He scores. And England avenge 16 years of hurt

In 1986, it was Diego Maradona's controversial goal. Four years ago, it was a bitter exit after a penalty shoot-out. England have waited a long time to erase the pain of World Cup defeats at the hands (literally, in the case of Maradona) of Argentina, but, in the Sapporo Dome yesterday, a penalty scored by David Beckham gained a huge measure of revenge.

In a symbolic moment, the England captain, whose sending-off in the 1998 World Cup loss to Argentina had led one newspaper to call him "the most hated man in the country", scored the goal that earned his nation a dramatic win against the favourites for this year's event. The penalty was awarded after Michael Owen had been brought down by Mauricio Pochettino two minutes before half-time.

Having been largely written off because of Sunday's lacklustre 1-1 draw with Sweden, Sven Goran Eriksson's side now need only a draw against Nigeria, who have already been eliminated, to guarantee their progress to the knockout stages.

Beckham, in only his second game since breaking a bone in his foot, described the penalty kick, which he struck straight and powerfully, as terrifying.

"Their 'keeper told me to go one way and Diego Simeone [the man he kicked to cause his dismissal in 1998] tried to shake my hand. It was terrifying," he said. "It has been a long four years and this has topped it all off."

Not since 1966, when the England manager, Alf Ramsey, called the South Americans "animals" for their fouling, have England beaten Argentina in a competitive match. Twenty years later, in the wake of the Falklands War, Bobby Robson's side were overcome in the World Cup quarter-finals by a sublime goal from Diego Maradona and another that he punched into the net. He called it an intervention "by the hand of God".

Having laid to rest one hoodoo surrounding English football with the 5-1 defeat of Germany in Munich last year, Eriksson has now banished another inferiority complex from the national game.