Today I'm going back 19 years to 2003 and England's European Championships Qualifier against European minnows Liechtenstein at Old Trafford with an attendance of 64,931.
Prior to the match we had the slightly bizarre spectacle of the same national anthem being played twice. Liechtenstein's "Oben am jungen Rhein" carries the same tune as England's "God Save the Queen" but it did mean that the numbskulls who enjoy inserting the words "No surrender" into the anthem could do so twice. I hope they were happy and no doubt the disbanded IRA were gnashing their teeth in frustration.
The game was England's 807th International and was Sven-Goran Eriksen's 32nd in charge. Sven selected a relatively experienced England side with Real Madrid's David Beckham being the most capped player (63). John Terry of Chelsea and Southampton's James Beattie were the least experienced players (4 caps each). Today's programme cover star is the ball-juggling Gary Neville of Manchester United who earned his 59th cap on the night, part of an eventual total of 85. Liechtenstein appeared to be relying upon club-level understanding because seven of their starting line-up came from FC Vaduz, the Stolz (or Pride of) von Liechtenstein. FC Vaduz play in the Swiss League system.
England, 8th in the official FIFA rankings were expected to destroy 145th ranked Liechtenstein but, as these things often turn out, the Three Lions made heavy weather of it, hitting the woodwork twice and fluffing several chances before halftime. England's first goal didn't come until the beginning of the second half and was scored by Michael Owen with a diving header from ten yards. Six minutes later and England had a second goal thanks to their youngest ever scorer 17-year old Wayne Rooney who was scoring only his second-ever goal for England. There were to be no further goals with England settling for the 2-0 victory, three points and first place in their Qualification Group. The win meant that they needed only a point from their final Qualifier against Turkey in Istanbul the following month. The result also set an England post-war record of eight successive victories.
England completed the Qualification job with a goalless draw in Istanbul, a result which meant that England qualified for the Euro 2004 Finals in Portugal as Group winners whilst second placed Turkey went into the jeopardy of the Play-Offs which would determine the remaining five finalists. Turkey were drawn to play Latvia in those Play-Offs and ended up losing 3-2 on aggregate having been 2-1 ahead with only 24 minutes left to play. Euro 2004 wasn't a particularly happy tournament for England who successfully negotiated their Group before crashing out to the hosts Portugal on penalties (what else?) at the Quarter-Final stage.
CRB Match No. 1332
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