No. 3: The Sven Kid
To be honest, if I did a World Cup best moments list, this would make it on there. But I’m doing a worsties list so this will have to do. Some things are just too good to leave out.
It's easy to forget now (or remember and sneer about it), but England fans were actually pretty excited about the team from about 2001 – 2004. Aside from the awesome shirt we had from 2001-2003 (pictured), this was down to the appointment of Sven-Goran Eriksson as manager, and the heralding of the so-called golden generation of Beckham, Scholes, Gerrard, Ferdinand, Campbell, Owen and... erm... Emile Heskey. OK, so some were more golden than others.
Anyway, England went to the 2002 World Cup full of optimism. Sven had turned the team around and got qualification (courtesy of a late Beckham goal against Greece) from a tricky group, the highlight being a 5-1 win away to Germany. Things didn't quite go to plan in the run up to the World Cup, Gerrard and Gary Neville pulled out through injury and Beckham only just made it after breaking a metatarsal bone in his foot.
Spirits were still high though. Perhaps too high. For one child in particular.
No, that kid was not naturally bald. Nor did he need glasses. He had his head shaved and wore the glasses to look like Sven-Goran Eriksson. Whether he's a legend or an idiot I will leave for you to decide.
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