David Beckham was taken to hospital with a fractured thumb as England earned a 2-1 victory in their friendly duel with South Africa in Durban.
Gareth Southgate's header after just 36 seconds and Emile Heskey's tap-in after a long-range Frank Lampard effort had been spilled into his path will have put a smile on Sven-Goran Eriksson's face.
However, the injury sustained to Beckham's left hand will take all the headlines. If a break is confirmed, Beckham may be prevented from flying for a couple of days, while club boss Sir Alex Ferguson, who already has three England men - Gary Neville, Nicky Butt and Wes Brown - recovering from injury, will be anxious the recovery time does not threaten his participation in a packed pre-season programme which includes a high-profile trip to the United States.
Ironically, it was one of the men who did not join the party that met Nelson Mandela who gave England their perfect start. The Middlesbrough defender scored one of the fastest goals in England history.
Having found space before Beckham strode up to swing in a trademark free-kick from the right, Southgate then danced across the six-yard box to the near post where his captain dropped a perfect cross onto his head which was easily steered into the net.
With Brian Baloyi looking totally unsafe in the home goal, Michael Owen wasted an excellent opportunity to double the lead, firing over from an acute angle after a Beckham free-kick had been fumbled.
The reprieve gave South Africa a badly-needed lift and, through a series of robust tackles and excellent flank play from Delron Buckley and Stanton Fredericks, they began to get on top.
Southgate had already been forced to show his defensive prowess with a timely blocked tackle on McCarthy and when Shaun Bartlett fed Buckley down the left, the cross flicked off Mills' hand, which gave referee Lim Ki Chang a decision to make.
He came down in favour of the home side and McCarthy confidently beat David James from the spot.
For the remainder of the opening period, England spent long periods on the back foot and Tebeho Mokoena made Rio Ferdinand look foolish with a superb turn just outside the box, the midfielder then setting up Bartlett who blazed a good chance over.
Amid all this Beckham had gone to ground under a strong challenge from Thabang Molefe.
The South African was yellow carded for his trouble as the Manchester United man immediately felt his wrist, although replays showed he had actually played the ball.
He emerged for the second half with the injury strapped, then lasted just five minutes more before being ushered off the field and straight into a waiting ambulance.
Substitute Frank Lampard made an instant impact when his speculative shot was spilled by Baloyi to present Heskey with the winner.
However, as usual, all the talk was of Beckham as the final whistle sounded. And he was not even in the stadium.
Filed by Barry J.Whyte
