Beckham Is Injured in Win

It was a bad day for Italy and Portugal. And it wasn’t all that great for England captain David Beckham.

Beckham scored on a curling 25-meter shot to lead England past Wales, 2-0, Saturday at Manchester, England, in a qualifier for the 2006 World Cup, but he wound up with a broken rib and a one-game suspension for picking up a yellow card, his second of the qualifying tournament.

Beckham was injured minutes after his 76th-minute goal when he was tackled by defender Ben Thatcher. There was no immediate word on how long he would be out.

“He scored a great goal, not many players can strike the ball like that but he is one of them,” striker Wayne Rooney said. “He’s our captain, our leader and a great player, but whoever comes in will do a good job.”

England leads Group 6 with seven points. Poland moved into second place with six points after beating Austria, 3-1, at Vienna.

Italy, which won its first two games in Group 5, was upset at Slovenia, 1-0, on substitute Bostjan Cesar’s goal in the 82nd minute. Slovenia leads the group with seven points, followed by Italy with six.

Portugal, the European Championship runner-up three months ago, tied with host Liechtenstein, 2-2, in a Group 3 game. Slovakia leads the group with 10 points after a 4-1 victory over Latvia and Portugal is second with seven points.

In Group 4, host France and Ireland tied, 0-0, at Saint-Denis and each has five points, along with Switzerland, which tied at Israel, 2-2.

Host Spain got goals from Albert Luque and Raul Gonzalez to beat Belgium, 2-0, in a Group 7 matchup at Santander and Croatia tied with Bulgaria, 2-2, in a Group 8 game at home but still leads the group with seven points.

In South America, Luciano Figueroa scored two goals and Argentina beat Uruguay, 4-2, at Buenos Aires. Kaka and Ronaldo each scored two goals and Brazil beat host Venezuela, 5-2, at Maracaibo. Brazil leads the regional qualifying group with 19 points, followed by Argentina with 18.

In the North and Central American and Caribbean region, Honduras and Canada tied, 1-1, at San Pedro Sula.