England 1-0 Argentina
FIFA World Cup Finals
Sapporo Dome
07 June 2002

Two Manchester United midfielders, David Beckham and Juan Sebastian Véron, had played in the last World Cup game between England and Argentina during France 98.

"Whenever I see pictures of my sending off [for kicking Diego Simeone in the 1998 World Cup], I can see Seba waving an imaginary red card to the referee," Beckham recalls.

"I saw Seba before the game in Sapporo. He started trying to wind me up, saying I must be very tired and my foot must be ‘really hurting’ [after breaking a metatarsal bone]. I told him I’d had a good rest."

Just before half-time, a pass from Paul Scholes put Michael Owen one-on-one with a defender in the penalty area.

Owen recalls: "You’re saying to the defender, ‘Stick your leg out at your peril because I’m going past you.’ Out came the foot and I felt the impact of boot and stud."

Referee Pierluigi Collina awarded the penalty, but who should take it? It was down to Owen, who took penalties for Liverpool, or Beckham as captain.

"David scooped up the ball and I said to him: ‘Do you want the pen?’" says Owen. "He wanted it, but you could see he was nervous."

Beckham says: "The ref, the keeper and Diego Simeone, of all people, were standing between me and the goal. Simeone offered me his hand as if he expected me to shake it. Should I? No chance.

"For United, I’d hit my last two penalties down the middle and I thought this was no time to be clever. I knew instinctively it was a goal and kept running to the corner flag." With 44 minutes gone, England were 1-0 up and that remained the score.

Trevor Sinclair was so hyped up after the game he got on the Argentinian team coach by mistake. "There weren’t many smiles on there so I got off again as quickly as I could."

A final word on the match came from Argentina's 1986 World Cup-winning captain."Beckham’s got a great touch," says Argentina’s greatest ever player. "Diego Simeone made him eat humble pie in France 98. But he paid us back."