England 1 Ecuador 0: Having come here 18 years ago and lost a game they dominated against an Irish side they clearly expected to beat, England's result on their return to the Gottlieb-Daimler stadium was at least a little bit more satisfactory. But oh how their many supporters must have wished there was even a hint of the passion in this game that they had shown against the Republic back in 1988.

Instead, they brought those whose spirits had been sent soaring by Saturday's captivating start to the knock-out stages of this competition down to earth with a thud. In a terribly poor game they were the better of two distinctly mediocre-looking sides with David Beckham's 17th goal in 93 appearances for his country proving enough for victory in the end.

The strike, a curling 25-yard free that Christian Mora really should have saved, might make life a little more uncomfortable for those who have been arguing that the English skipper should be dropped. The overall display, though, will only fuel the case made by many that his Swedish manager's uninspiring brand of football is likely to fall well short of what is required when finally, next Saturday, his team needs to win a game against opponents of proven quality.

Eriksson countered anguished suggestions from English journalists after yesterday's win that his players must surely be able to do better than this - one onlooker had joked in the stands that they had dragged Ecuador down to their level - with a quiet expression of confidence. His team can and will be better in the games still to come, he insisted before adding, in a gibe clearly targeted at reporters he believes to be wilfully missing the point, "still, it is very nice to know that while already having qualified for the quarter-final stages of this World Cup".

The bare statistics lend some support to his case. England have yet to impress even once here but they have won three of their four games on the way to topping their group and a place in the last eight. But with the class of the opposition now set to soar even the coach himself must appreciate that, on the strength of what was produced here, there is little room for him to be wrong when he says his side will get "better and better and better".

On this occasion, they made hard work of beating an Ecuador side that looked as though it had become terribly homesick. Easily rolled over by Germany last week, the South Americans showed precious little of the speed or spirit that had carried them to wins over Poland and Costa Rica. On what was probably the hottest day of the tournament the conditions had promised to be their powerful ally against the English but, inexplicably, Luis Suarez's side allowed their opponents to dictate the pace of a contest the tempo of which rarely climbed above sluggish.

In fact, the worst of the day's heat had subsided by kick-off time but the English still seemed to be struggling to get into things early on when a badly misjudged header by John Terry allowed Carlos Tenario to race clear towards Paul Robinson's.

The striker controlled the dropping ball well enough but delayed his shot just a fraction too long, a mistake that allowed Ashley Cole to make a wonderful lunging block that deflected the ball onto the crossbar.

There was little to pick between the two sides in the first half with the South Americans rather easily holding their own across the centre where Eriksson's decision to play Michael Carrick behind his regular four-man midfield brought no obvious benefits. The Spurs player did little wrong, though, which was more than could be said for makeshift right back Owen Hargreaves who the Ecuadorians persistently targeted over the course of the first half.

While his central midfield proved incapable of imposing itself in the densely populated area they shared with four very tightly packed opponents neither Beckham nor Joe Cole seemed remotely able to exploit the considerable space that existed out in the wings.

Up front Wayne Rooney provided the clearest evidence yet that he is now fully fit with a valiant running display in what were somewhat unpromising circumstances for the solitary striker. Yet again, though, England could generate only the lightest of workloads for an opposing goalkeeper.

Midway though the half Mora had not looked the safest pair of hands when he came to collect a straightforward looking free from Beckham only to be completely put off by the arrival of an airborne Rio Ferdinand but he didn't have to make a solitary save of note before the Real Madrid midfielder lined up a second such kick 15 metres in from the left-hand sideline.

Having dictated the placement of his wall the goalkeeper then got his own positioning badly wrong and though Beckham's placement was inch perfect there simply wasn't anyway he should have been able to beat Mora from that distance.

To the English fans the goal brought obvious delight, to the neutrals relief. Though Ecuador did occasionally get forward - Edison Mendez finished most of their more promising build ups with badly over-hit crosses until Luis Valencia stole the limelight with a couple of rushed shots from the edge of the area - they had not remotely troubled Robinson since a few early highballs had brought fleeting memories of the mayhem that reigned during the later stages of the 2-2 draw against Sweden.

That would surely change now, one suspected, as the South Americans belatedly upped the tempo and took the game to their opponents in a desperate attempt to extend their involvement in these finals.

It didn't happen, though, and England came close more than once late on to making the game safe with Rooney finally forcing one good save from Mora before setting Frank Lampard up with a clear-cut chance that the Chelsea midfielder hoofed skywards.

Asked afterwards about the manner of his side's defeat, Suarez described the game as a "very complicated one", which, he said, he had realised would be won by the first team to score. In the unlikely event that Luiz Felipe Scolari is similarly defeatist on Saturday then Eriksson's England may progress again despite another aimless display. Otherwise, England appear to face a stark choice: prove true to his world and finally get better or prove true to his form and, as they have at the quarter-final stages of the three previous tournaments at which they have been managed by the Swede, finally get beaten.