David Beckham bent the ball over the wall and squeezed England into the World Cup quarterfinals. Beckham curled a trademark 25-yard free kick just inside the post in the 60th minute, giving England an ugly 1-0 victory over Ecuador.
Beckham, whose free kicks inspired the 2003 movie title “Bend it Like Beckham,” hooked the ball ever so carefully over a defensive wall of four Ecuadoreans in bright yellow shirts.
Struck with expert touch, the ball dipped toward the corner, where Ecuador’s goalkeeper dived to his right and caught a piece of it with his fingertips, but he couldn’t stop it.
In Sunday’s other quarterfinal match, Portugal survived playing down to nine men in a game of brutal fouls and held off the Netherlands, 1-0. Both sides pushed and shoved their way to a record-tying 16 yellow cards.
