England skipper David Beckham completed a glorious one-man revenge mission by blasting his country to a World Cup 2002 victory over Argentina in Sapporo this afternoon.

Beckham kept his nerve to drive home a 42nd minute penalty and take England to the brink of the last 16 after Michael Owen had tumbled under Mauricio Pochettino's woeful challenge.

All the pent-up frustration of four years' hurt since that infamous dismissal in St Etienne found wonderful release as the Manchester United man raced away to celebrate after beating Pablo Cavallero with a confident strike.

The win, their first against Argentina since 1966, was founded on an inspirational midfield performance from Nicky Butt. While Beckham will typically capture the headlines, the unassuming Butt deserves equal credit after recovering from the knee injury which kept him out of Sunday's draw with Sweden to dominate the midfield exchanges.

It means England now need just a point from their meeting with already-eliminated Nigeria next Wednesday to advance to the next stage, while Argentina must beat Sweden at the same time if they are not to tumble out of the competition at the opening stage.

England had been under pressure in the opening stages as Juan Sebastian Veron and Ariel Ortega tried to impose their authority on the game. David Seaman was forced to collect a deep cross to deny Gabriel Batistuta a scoring opportunity and the Arsenal keeper then made a smart save from Javier Zanetti's 20-yard shot. Zanetti also caught Owen Hargreaves with a tackle which left the Bayern Munich man needing extensive treatment, and eventually forced him off altogether.

England though continued to battle and as the match descended into a physical contest, gradually gained in confidence. Having already been yellow carded for a brutal late challenge on Ashley Cole, Batistuta tried the patience of Italian referee Pierluigi Collina by leading with his elbow as he tried to challenge Beckham for a midfield header. The England skipper blasted the free-kick into the wall but the fractured nature of the contest continued as Diego Simeone fouled Paul Scholes before Cole caught Ortega with a crude challenge. Cole was finally booked after being lured into a late tackle by Ortega and with Argentina finding space down the right, the Arsenal full-back was starting to become exposed, particularly as substitute Trevor Sinclair was concentrating most of his energies on attacking the opposition defence.

However, while that was of some concern to England, they were also starting to present Argentina with some severe problems. Owen ran at Walter Samuel inside the South Americans' penalty area and found enough space to drive a shot past Pablo Cavallero which agonisingly crashed back off a post.

Seaman saved Batistuta's header as Argentina countered, but Sinclair - whose arrival allowed Scholes to move into his preferred central position - weaved his way into the box at the other end before producing a weak cross which was easily cleared. Owen and Butt combined to set up Scholes for a long range effort which struck an Argentine defender.

Within a minute, England were in front. The memory of Owen running at them four years ago is still fresh and when the Liverpool hit-man picked up possession on the edge of the area, Pochettino panicked. The full-back lunged in, caught Owen just below the knee and when the striker tumbled down, Collina pointed to the spot. Beckham took a deep breath, then strode up and smashed the ball past Cavallero before racing to the touchline where he was mobbed by ecstatic team-mates.

After surviving until half-time, England almost doubled their advantage within three minutes of the re-start when Owen took on Pochettino again then drove just wide of the left-hand post with Cavallero beaten again. Veron was a notable absentee at the start of the second period, replaced by Pablo Aimar presumably through injury, although his performance had been largely ineffective.

Scholes was the next to try his luck for England but this time the Argentine keeper was up to the task, beating away the Manchester United man's long range shot. Beckham muscled his way past Diego Placente but couldn't find the target from eight yards as England continued to press. Heskey was replaced by Teddy Sheringham after 55 minutes and his first touch was a brilliant volley from Scholes' crossfield pass which Cavallero punched away.

Argentina were reeling and threw on Hernan Crespo for Batistuta as the hour mark passed, followed shortly afterwards by Claudio Lopez who replaced Gonzalez as the South Americans tried to get themselves back into the game.

The balance did start to shift as the clock ticked down, England not knowing whether to press forward or hold their advantage and Sven-Goran Eriksson made the decision for them by taking off Owen for Wayne Bridge and leaving Sheringham up front on his own.

Rio Ferdinand and Sol Campbell stood particularly tall and David Seaman pulled off a couple of spectacular saves. Waves of South American pressure paid no dividends.

There may yet be life for England after the World Cup's "Group of Death".

Argentina: Pablo Cavallero, Mauricio Pochettino, Walter Samuel, Diego Placente, Javier Zanetti, Diego Simeone, Juan Sebastian Veron (Pablo Aimar 45), Juan Pablo Sorin, Ariel Ortega, Gabriel Batistuta (Hernan Crespo 60), Kily Gonzalez (Claudio Lopez 64)
Subs Not Used: Matias Almeyda, Roberto Ayala, Roberto Bonano, German Burgos, Claudio Caniggia, Jose Chamot, Marcelo Gallardo, Claudio Husain, Gustavo Lopez
Booked: Batistuta

England: David Seaman, Danny Mills, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Owen Hargreaves (Trevor Sinclair 19), Michael Owen (Wayne Bridge 80), Emile Heskey (Teddy Sheringham 56)
Subs Not Used: Wes Brown, Joe Cole, Kieron Dyer, Robbie Fowler, David James, Martin Keown, Nigel Martyn, Gareth Southgate, Darius Vassell.
Booked: Ashley Cole, Heskey

Attendance: 35,927

Referee: Pierluigi Collina (Italy)

David Beckham is determined to banish the 'demons' which have haunted him since his dramatic sending-off when England last faced Argentina in the World Cup four years ago.

England's captain says he knows exactly what is coming his way when he leads his country in what most observers believe will be the key clash of Sven Goran Eriksson's World Cup campaign.

And this time, says Beckham, he will not fall for any of Argentina's tricks.

At France 98, Beckham was sent off for a retaliatory kick at Argentina's captain, Diego Simeone. Suckered into the red card offence by Simeone's stifling attentions on that balmy night in St Etienne, Beckham carried the can for England's exit from the finals.

Public vilification, including having his effigy strung up in a London street, followed.

Now, in a revealing interview on the eve of England's departure for their South Korean base on the island of Jeju, Beckham talked candidly about the Simeone incident - and England's forthcoming showdown with their old foes in Sapporo, Japan, on June 7.

'I'm sure they'll try to wind me up,' he said. 'But there will be a bit of that on both sides. It's part and parcel of football these days - but I believe I'm above all that now.

'I feel I can get over situations like that - things that I've been through in the past - and I'm glad I've been able to prove that to people. It was hard for me at the time, but I'm looking forward to putting all those demons to sleep.'