“Life is just a series of peaks and troughs. And you don’t know whether you’re in a trough until you’re climbing out, or on a peak until you’re coming down. And that’s it you know, you never know what’s round the corner. But it’s all good. ‘If you want the rainbow, you’ve gotta put up with the rain.’ Do you know which “philosopher” said that? Dolly Parton. And people say she’s just a big pair of tits.” D. Brent, 2003.

While today’s nugget of football history is not about working for a paper merchant in Slough, David Brent’s words are a perfect way to describe how England captain David Beckham was feeling today in 2001, when his injury time free kick hit the back of the Greek net, propelling the Three Lions into the World Cup finals and ridding him of his personal demons from the 1998 World Cup.

English football seems to have the monopoly on last-gasp qualifiying heroics. Think of Terry Butcher in 1989 against Sweden, with more blood on his white shirt than most of us appear to have in our whole bodies, or Paul Ince repeating the trick in Rome eight years later. Whilst Becks didn’t bleed for his country, he did just about everything else that day.

The match at Old Trafford was turning into a textbook frustrating England performance. England had toiled against a well organised Greek side and were 2-1 down late in the game when a free kick was awarded after Teddy Sheringham was felled outside Nikopolidis’ area. News was filtering through that group rivals Germany had failed to beat Finland, so a draw was all that was needed to start booking those flights for the Far East.



Beckham had already missed five free kicks that day, so Sheringham fancied a shot at glory. ‘I’ve got a feeling about this one Teddy’ was his captain’s response and the rest is history. In one of those truly ‘remember where you were’ moments, millions of England fans were jumping up and down, hugging strangers and telling anyone who’d listen that Becks was the best thing since sliced bread.

This completed a remarkable turnaround in Mr Posh Spice’s fortunes. Three years earlier he was public enemy number one after his dismissal against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup and was booed at every away ground in the country. His performance against Greece however, was saluted as one of the finest ever seen in an England shirt, as he covered every blade of grass and dragged his England side to the 2002 World Cup.

See the 93rd minute strike in all it’s glory below and come back for more England action tomorrow as we look at someone who should’ve taken a few lessons from Goldenballs when it came to keeping your cool in a tight spot.

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