A David Beckham free-kick on 60 minutes has put England through to the quarter-finals of the World Cup after labouring to a 1-0 win over Ecuador in Stuttgart.

The loss of Michael Owen against Sweden forced Sven Goran Eriksson to change his formation once again, Tottenham midfielder Michael Carrick started his first competitive international as the holding player in a five man midfield. Owen Hargreaves moving to right-back in place of Jamie Carragher.

England were only bothered once by Ecuador in the match, after 12 minutes a mistake by John Terry allowed Carlos Tenorio a free run at goal but a superb block by Ashley Cole deflected his shot onto the bar. England passed the ball better than in previous games but failed to break through in the first half.

Again England started the slightly better of the teams and Beckham struck on the hour with a perfectly placed free-kick to score the only goal of the game. England could have had a few more to ease the fans nerves but were let down by poor finishing and poor final balls.

Wayne Rooney lasting 90 minutes and looking strong is a major plus, he held the ball up excellently late in the game. England will need to up the performance in the next game.

David Beckham told BBC1: "To be honest I have not scored for a while and I not scored many free-kicks this season.

"But last night Wayne said to me I have been terrible in the last few games and Roberto Carlos texted me to score a goal for him so I am more than happy."

Beckham admitted that he was sick after scoring the winner, adding: "I didn't feel very well before the game and then in the second half and it just came out."

Manager Sven-Goran Eriksson said: "I think it worked. We should have scored more goals but I am rather happy that we are in the quarter-finals again. I hope we will have a better result in the quarters this time."

"We are in the quarter-finals and we have not performed as well as we can do but it will come later."