England Sinc The Argies!

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England secured a memorable 1-0 victory over arch-rivals Argentina on Friday to leave them within touching distance of the second round of the World Cup Finals - and West Ham United's own Trevor Sinclair played an influential part in the triumph!

Despite starting the match on the subsitutes' bench alongside fellow club-mates Joe Cole and David James, the Hammers winger was called into action as early as the 18th minute, after Owen Hargreaves suffered a calf injury in a freak collision with team-mate Michael Owen.

Trevor settled into the left side of a midfield four and immediately posed problems for the Argentinians with his pace and trickery on the flank. Just a minute before half-time, he played an indirect part in what ultimately was to be England's winning goal, as his run down the left set up an attack that ended when Owen was hacked down in the penalty area.

Captain David Beckham stepped up to slam home the spot-kick and lay to rest the ghosts that had haunted him since his red card against the Argies four years ago in France '98.

Sinclair then played his part in the second half as England fought to preserve their lead, and was switched to the right flank as manager Sven-Goran Eriksson bolstered his midfield by moving Beckham into the middle and introducing Wayne Bridge on the left.

Joe Cole was sadly given no chance of making a similar impact to Sinclair after sustaining a groin injury in training, but should be fully recovered in time for England's final group game against Nigeria in Osaka, where a point will be enough to secure a place in the next stages.

Sinclair, meanwhile, will be confident that his performance has proved the answer to England's problems on the left side during this tournament, and could now find himself a starter in Eriksson's line-up for the remainder of our participation in Japan and South Korea.