This was followed by a Steven Gerrard long-range shot, taking England to a 2-0 win. The unofficial overnights for the match, shown on ITV1, recorded a peak audience of 17m viewers and a huge 76.7% share of the total television audience for coverage of the match between 5pm and 7pm.
The match also recorded one of the best-ever male audience figures, with a total of 87% of the total male audience on average tuning into the time slot.
The match recorded an average of 73% of the total audience, with an average of 14.2m tuning into the game.
On BBC One, 'Neighbours', which usually attracts a share of around 20%, yesterday took a share of just 7%.
On BBC Two, 'The Weakest Link', which started at 5.15pm, drew in an audience of 0.8m, or a 4.4% share.
Last night's match beat the England v Paraguay game, broadcast on BBC One on Saturday afternoon, which averaged 12m viewers, by more than 2m.
Over on Channel 4 at 5pm, 'The New Paul O'Grady Show' plunged to a share of just 5.8%, with 1.4m viewers. Following this, 'The Simpsons' also fell to a share of just 3.9%
On Five, Five News starting at 5.30pm picked up a 1.7% share of the total audience with 300,000 viewers.
Later in the evening, ITV1 also scored success with the Sweden v Paraguay match, which pulled in an average audience of 6.5m, peaking with 8.3m.
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