6th October 2001
David Beckham became a national villain when he was sent off against Argentina in the match that saw England eliminated from the 1998 World Cup but all that was finally forgiven on this day in 2001.Going into their final qualifier for the 2002 World Cup finals England were level on points with Germany but had a better goal difference thanks to that famous 5-1 victory in Germany. So England needed to at least match Germany's result to automatically qualify - England were at home to Greece and Germany were at home to Finland. Germany's match ended before England's - Germany drawing with Finland. So England needed to at least draw with Greece to automatically qualify but sadly the match didn't go to script and in the 93rd minute Greece were leading 2-1. But then England got a free kick. From around 30 yards on his home pitch - Old Trafford - David Beckham fired in a perfect free kick which hit the back of the net. A 2-2 draw, Beckham a national hero, England qualified for the finals automatically and Germany finished second and went to the play-offs. Was it a dream?
SQUAD!
The 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification UEFA Group 9 was England's group comprising Albania, Finland, Germany and Greece.
The group was won by England, who qualified for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The runners-up, Germany entered the UEFA Qualification Playoffs.!! AND who would later reach the final of the tournament proper!!
England started the qualification process badly, a home defeat to Germany and an away draw with Finland (soon after a poor team performance at the 2000 European Championships) saw the resignation of their manager Kevin Keegan, and the appointment of Sven-Göran Eriksson – the first non-Englishman to be given the job – in his place.
With the new manager, they picked themselves up and won five in a row, while the Germans themselves unexpectedly faltered: also drawing with Finland away from home, they also lost their home match with England by a resounding 5–1. Finland, in fact, might have been in with a chance of qualification themselves, but they lost a match to the unfancied Greece, whom England had to play in their final match, while Finland played Germany at the same time, with England and Germany guaranteed the top two places and separated only by goal difference. Greece unexpectedly took the lead twice at Old Trafford, but England captain David Beckham scored an injury-time free kick to level the game. Germany could only manage a 0–0 draw against Finland, meaning England topped the group on goal difference!!Apologies for crazy table below...you can work them out!
Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |  |  |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | England | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 16 | 6 | +10 | 17 | Qualification to 2002 FIFA World Cup | — | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 2–0 | |
| 2 | Germany | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 10 | +4 | 17 | Advance to UEFA play-offs | 1–5 | — | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | |
| 3 | Finland | 8 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 7 | +5 | 12 | 0–0 | 2–2 | — | 5–1 | 2–1 | ||
| 4 | Greece | 8 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 17 | −10 | 7 | 0–2 | 2–4 | 1–0 | — | 1–0 | ||
| 5 | Albania | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 14 | −9 | 3 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 2–0 | — |
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