On this day: England beat Paraguay in World Cup opener

England went into the 2006 World Cup in Germany having not been defeated in an opening group game for 20 years.

That unbeaten record went on the line eight years ago today as Paraguay provided the opposition in a sunny Frankfurt.

The South Americans had been extremely vocal in their confidence ahead of the encounter, but within three minutes of the first whistle, they were brought back down to earth.

England captain David Beckham swung over a free kick from the left flank into the Paraguay penalty area. He couldn't find a teammate, but the ball glanced off the head of centre-back Carlos Gamarra and past the dive of a helpless Justo Villar in the Paraguay goal.

However, rather than inspire the Three Lions on to a resounding victory, the early goal appeared to hamper them. In response, Paraguay controlled the remainder of the half, with striker Nelson Valdez shooting wide and then forcing Paul Robinson into a smart stop before the break.

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It continued to be a subdued performance from Sven-Goran Eriksson's England after the restart, although they were rarely threatened by Paraguay.

Playmaker Robert Acuna came the closest to scoring an equaliser midway through the second half, but his powerful shot just missed the target, while up the other end Joe Cole dragged an effort wide of the upright.

It meant that England held out for all three points, although their campaign had not got off to the most convincing of starts. Nevertheless, it was a content Eriksson that addressed the media after the match. "I'm pleased that we got the victory," said the Swede.

"We found it difficult to keep the ball in the second half. But we will get better in the next match and it was important to open with three points. We will have to play 90 minutes like the first 25 but I'm sure we will play better and better every game. It is a good start."

Meanwhile, captain Beckham added: "You don't realise how hot it was out there. We were good at times but we gave away the ball too much. But it was hot and we got what we wanted. That was a good start and we have the three points. The performance could be better but we will work on that. We set out to get the three points and we did that."

ENGLAND: Robinson; Neville, Ferdinand, Terry, A Cole; Beckham, Lampard, Gerrard, J Cole (Hargreaves); Owen (Downing), Crouch

PARAGUAY: Villar (Bobadilla); Caniza, Gamarra, Caceres, Toledo (Nunez); Bonet (Cuevas), Acuna, Paredes, Riveros; Valdez, Santa Cruz