Throwback to England v Greece 2001
England v Greece 2001
With England playing Greece in an upcoming UEFA Nations League match, we thought we should take you back to a dramatic encounter between the two nations.
It was one of David Beckham's finest performances for his country. At times, the soon-to-be former Man United number 7 was almost playing Greece alone. No player worked harder to make sure England qualified for the 2002 World Cup.
The wider context
Sven Goran Eriksson's England side were trailing the Greeks 2-1 deep into injury time and they looked destined for a potentially difficult play-off against Ukraine.
David Beckham was having none of that. He had failed to score from five previous free kicks, and secured qualification for Japan and Korea with a dramatic goal in stoppage time.
Despite a bad start, this turned out to be a pretty memorable qualifying campaign for England. Only a few weeks earlier, they thrashed Germany 5-1. This is considered the best England performance of the modern era. It's a shame that the World Cup dreams were ultimately ended by Brazil a few months later but the road to get there was great fun.
Do you remember?
You can watch the highlights of the match in the video below. Footage from From The Archive - YouTube
Despite the match taking place 23 years ago, it is still spoken about with fondness by many England fans.
Liam, an England and Manchester United fan, told us: "Beckham never deserved the criticism that he got after the red card against Argentina in 1998 but this still felt like total redemption for him. What a player he was!"
William, another England fan, added: "This was not a great England performance, but throughout the match, we showed great character. It was fitting that David Beckham secured the all-important point."
Peter was in attendance at the match. He added: "I have always wondered what the Germans made of it. The irony was that Germany could only manage a goalless home draw against Finland. Amazingly, they nearly made it through by default. Thank goodness for Beckham. I wouldn't have been confident against Ukraine."
