England to quarter finals

David Beckham's superb free kick may have taken England through to the World Cup quarter finals, yet that was the only positive to come from a disappointing 1-0 win over Ecuador at Stuttgart's Gottlieb-Daimler stadion.Against a background of supporter riots in the lead up, England came out carrying the expectation they would atone for some underwhelming performances so far.On the other hand, Ecuador's unheralded team may have nervously entered the fray, yet, from the beginning, they took it to England and probably should have taken the lead during the first period when Ashley Cole managed to deflect Carlos Tenorio's shot onto the bar.Yet, after its most disappointing half so far, the Three Lions hit back on the hour when Beckham's exquisite free kick curled into goal.

The result takes England through to a quarter final clash with Portugal, yet some serious questions hang over the Three Lions and their now infamous manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.Going into the match, injuries to Michael Owen and Gary Neville had forced Eriksson to re-jig his side from its usual 4-4-2 formation to a 4-1-4-1.

England was further hampered by its poor possession and by Wayne Rooney operating as a lone striker, with the Manchester United man receiving some terrible service and looking uncomfortable without a forward partner.With Rooney, thereby unable to make his incisive runs, Ecuador's Ivan Hurtado came into his own, with the Tricolor skipper setting up his country's attacks.

There was still a couple of nervous moments for England as Paul Robinson was forced to dive full stretch to save a Luis Valencia effort, yet as Ecuador ran forward in an attempt to score, gaps opened up in its defence and for some brief moments England demonstrated its potential.Rooney, who played a full match, was suddenly finding his way through the backline with ease before setting up Frank Lampard twice.Lampard, who also had a poor day, may have missed his efforts, yet it could be a sign of things to come for English supporters who appear to be tiring of Eriksson's increasingly hollow reassurance that, 'We can play better'.