England have a key Nations League game against Greece on Thursday as Lee Carsley’s team head to Athens looking to avenge last month’s 2-1 defeat at Wembley, with memories still lingering of the heroics from a certain David Beckham 23 years ago.
England v Greece 2001: The Legend of David Beckham
The Three Lions need a win to get back on the promotion trail and the match-up brings to mind a great occasion in 2001, when, once again when they had their backs against the wall when facing the same opposition, David Beckham produced one of the great performances of his career and arguably his best England goal.
David Beckham: 2002 Qualifying Campaign
Expectations were perhaps modest going into the qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup after England had failed to get out of their group at the previous European Championship, but fans and the FA were hopeful of a strong send-off for the old Wembley in their first qualifier against Germany. However, on a rainy Saturday afternoon, Didi Hamann’s goal condemned England to a 1-0 defeat and manager Kevin Keegan had resigned by the time many fans had got back on the London Underground.
England then did what many believed was unthinkable and appointed their first foreign manager – Swede Sven Goran-Eriksson – and he was able to turn things round, including a 5-1 win over Germany in Munich in September 2001, in which Michael Owen scored a hat-trick. That put England firmly in control of the group and they needed just a draw in their final game against Greece at Old Trafford to confirm their place at the finals in Japan and South Korea, but there was still room for another twist in the tale.
David Beckham: Cometh The Hour
Greece were three years away from their finest football hour when they won the Euros in Portugal, but their World Cup qualification campaign had been dismal as they had no hope of reaching the finals and had lost all three of their away group games. England were taken to win comfortably at Old Trafford, but they were stung just before half-time when Angelos Charisteas fired the visitors into the lead.
Nerves were jangling that England would be destined for a tricky play-off against Ukraine and some stout Greek defending heightened the tension. Eriksson threw Teddy Sheringham on as a substitute for Robbie Fowler and within 10 seconds the Manchester United forward had headed the Three Lions level to the relief of the crowd.
However, that relief was to be short-lived as Demis Nikolaidis fired home a second Greece goal past Nigel Martyn. England needed just one goal to book their place in the Far East and the perfect opportunity arrived three minutes into injury time. They were awarded a free-kick 30 yards from goal and Beckham stood over it, wrongfooting the Greece goalkeeper to fire England to the finals.
David Beckham: Redemption
The goal signified more than just a place at the World Cup, it helped direct a complete turnaround for how Beckham was viewed by the football public, many members of which were fuming for years after he was sent off at the 1998 tournament in the last-16 knockout game against Argentina.
The free-kick itself helped coin the phrase ‘ David Beckham territory’ which commentators have been using to describe the location of such opportunities ever since. But, the following year, there was to be no fairytale finish. Beckham survived an injury scare to make it to Japan where he scored a penalty to beat Argentina in a group game in Sapporo, which came in between draws with Sweden and Nigeria.
A 3-0 victory over Denmark heightened expectations in the last 16, but England went on to suffer a 2-1 quarter-final defeat to Brazil, who would eventually beat Germany in the final and claim their fifth world title.
By Tom McGarry
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