England 1
Paraguay 0

England needed an own goal by Paraguay captain Carlos Gamarra to grind out a 1-0 victory in yesterday's Group B opener. They made a dream start on a hot afternoon at the Waldstadion when Gamarra headed a David Beckham free-kick into his own net after three minutes.

But England failed to show the killer instinct coach Sven-Goran Eriksson had urged and at times rode their luck against skilful opponents.

England, who had lost two and drawn one of the opening games in their last three tournaments, will be satisfied though with a winning start in a physical encounter.

"We suffered a lot," Eriksson told BBC television. "This was the first real hot, hot day and that knocked us a bit in the second half.

"The most important thing was to get three points today and we got them. It was a good start."

The first attack produced a goal when Beckham's delivery soared into the box and Gamarra deflected the ball past keeper Justo Villar under pressure from Michael Owen.

Things got worse for Paraguay four minutes later when an injured Villar was replaced by 20-year-old reserve Aldo Bobadilla, the fastest keeper substitution in World Cup history.

Villar is now likely to miss the rest of the World Cup with a damaged calf muscle.

Bobadilla promptly gave away a free-kick inside his area, Frank Lampard's shot came back off the wall and though he ballooned the follow-up, the midfielder then warmed the newcomer's gloves with a 25-metre drive.

England were in control, despite several crunching tackles by both sides, with Paraguay defending tenaciously and shooting from distance.

Striker Nelson Valdez had their best chance before the break with a shot that flew narrowly wide.

Paraguay were more ambitious after the break and Valdez again made the more threatening moves.

Striker Owen, recently back from a lengthy injury lay-off, made way after 56 minutes for midfielder Stewart Downing.

Joe Cole, who had been giving Paraguay a torrid time down the left, was briefly pushed up as a strike partner for Peter Crouch before the Chelsea midfielder also went off with seven minutes to go.

Paraguay nearly levelled when Paul Robinson flapped at a cross but Carlos Paredes failed to get his effort on target.

England captain Beckham said: "We gave the ball away a little bit too much. The performance could have been better, we can work on that, but we got the three points.

"We let them pass the ball a little bit too much. We know we can get better but we got what we wanted."

England: 1-Robinson; 2-Neville, 5-Ferdinand, 6-Terry, 3-A. Cole; 7-Beckham, 4-Gerrard, 8-Lampard, 11-J. Cole (16-Hargreaves 83); 10-Owen (20-Downing 56), 21-Crouch.

Paraguay: 1-Villar (22-Bobadilla 7); 6-Bonet (23-Cuevas 68), 5-Caceres, 4-Gamarra, 3-Toledo (2-Nunez 82); 21-Caniza, 10-Acuna, 13-Paredes, 16-Riveros; 9-Santa Cruz, 18-Valdez.

Referee: Marco Rodriguez (Mexico).

Scorer: Gamarra (3 og).

Half-time: 1-0. Att: 48,000.