England and Argentina added to their historic rivalry Friday with a fierce 90 minutes of World Cup soccer that was decided by a single blow of the whistle.
That whistle signaled a penalty kick for England in the 44th minute and David Beckham, considered a villian in his home country after the World Cup four years ago, made good on his opportunity.
England went on to down Argentina in Sapporo, 1-0, and moved to the top of its group alongside Sweden as the tournament headed into its second weekend.
Spain, meanwhile, became the first country to clinch a spot in the second round while Nigeria became the second country, along with Saudi Arabia, to be eliminated from contention.
The Spanish ensured they will be a part of the round of 16 by overcoming an early deficit to defeat Paraguay in a Group B match played in Jeonju, 3-1. And Sweden, which earned a 1-1 tie with England earlier in the tournament, recorded a 2-1 decision over Nigeria in Kobe.
The England-Argentina game had been anticipated for months, ever since they were drawn into Group F along with Nigeria and Sweden.
The old rivals played a violent match in the 1996 World Cup in England, which the home team won, and one the event's most memorable games was played between them in Mexico 16 years ago. That one saw Argentina advance thanks to a Maradonna goal that was allowed even though he batted the ball into the net with his hand. The Argentines went on to win the championship.
And four years ago, in the round of 16, Argentina advanced on penalty kicks after Beckham had been sent off for a retaliatory tackle. For that transgression, Beckham was roundly booed in his various club appearances.
But Beckham's efforts during World Cup qualifying regained the hearts of his countrymen and he battled back from a broken foot so he could be a part of this World Cup. In England's first game, a tie against Sweden, Beckham left for a second-half substitute. But he stayed in the entire way Friday night as the English fought off Argentina's relentless second-half attack.
His penalty kick was a powerful blast delivered straight ahead and past goalkeeper Pablo Cavallero, who was leaning to his right in hopes of guessing correctly.
Michael Owen, who hit the left post with a shot earlier in the match, drew the penalty when he was taken down by Mauricio Pochettino.
There were 41 fouls called in the game and Argentina had almost two-thirds of the possession time. But England had far more quality scoring chances and put together a solid defensive effort during the all-out Argentina attack that came during the closing minutes.
Friday's outcomes left England and Sweden atop Group F with four points each. Argentina, which won its first game over Nigeria, has three. The remaining games in the group will be played next Wednesday and England will be favored to down Nigeria to earn its way into the second round. England needs only to earn a draw in that match to advance.
If England does win, the Argentina-Sweden winner will also move on. Sweden would advance if the game ended in a tie. If England loses to Nigeria, it could still advance but only if Argentina beats Sweden and does so by a larger goal differential than Nigeria has over England.
None of those complications remain for Spain, which has a history of underachieving in the World Cup. Four years ago, Spain could not get to the second round and was eliminated in part because of a 0-0 draw with Paraguay.
Fernando Morientes came off the bench to score twice in Spain's win Friday and Francisco de Pedro had two assists. Spain surrendered an own goal to fall into an early hole.
"I'm satisfied that they did their best," Spanish coach Jose Antonio Camacho said. "The fact we scored three goals against a strong team like Paraguay shows that we did well."
Spain will advance out of Group B and is almost certain to be the winner of the group since it has a goal differential of plus four. If Slovenia and South Africa play to a tie Saturday, Spain will clinch first place in the group with one game left to be played.
That would put Spain up against the runner-up in Group E -- either Germany, Ireland or Cameroon -- in the round of 16 on June 16.
Both of Sweden's goals in its win over Nigeria came from Henrik Larsson -- one of them on a penalty kick.
Larsson's game-winner came after he was brought down in the penalty area by Ifeanyi Udeze in the 62nd minute.
The first of Saturday's matches will find South Africa meeting Slovenia at Daegu. South Africa has one point in Group B and Slovenia has none, so a loss by Slovenia would eliminate it from second-round contention.
Italy will then try to virtually wrap up a second-round spot in a match against Croatia in Ibaraki. Italy and Mexico are tied at the top of Group G with Mexico facing Ecuador on Sunday.
And in the finale Saturday night, Brazil is expected to waltz past China. Brazil won its opener in controversial fashion over Turkey, which will play Costa Rica Sunday.
