World Cup Nightmare
David Beckham looked out the window and noticed a man in the yard of his house motionless with his gaze fixed on him. It was late at night and David was alone in his Manchester mansion. He had gone to sleep when he was awakened by his dogs barking and got up to see what was happening.
The man stood in front of the house with his arms crossed and an no expression. They stared at each other for five minutes! “What do you want?” the football player finally shouted but there was no answer. At this point in 1998, David was the most hated man in England. They hated him so much that even in his own home he did not feel safe.
A few weeks earlier, the 23 year old star was the culprit for England’s early World Cup exit losing to Argentina. In the parking lot outside the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium, he sobbed uncontrollably in his father’s arms while the Gauchos players boarded the bus, twirling their jerseys over the heads.
Next stop for Argentina were the World cup quarter-finals, and for Beckham 12 months of nightmare, in which the youngster would be subjected to the most hateful campaign in the history of English football. But as it turned out years later this experience helped him grow to become one of the greatest football figures.
Just a day before the match with Argentina Beckham had just receive the news that his wife Victoria was pregnant with their first child and he was full of ambition to prove himself after the difficult start to the World Cup. The Manchester United player had already become a superstar and a week before the World Cup, David and Victoria attracted the attention of the British tabloids by visiting Elton John’s house on the French Riviera.
The Argentina Match
Everyone was talking about the young midfielder but England coach Glenn Hoddle didn’t seem too impressed by the worldly buzz surrounding the footballer and although Becks had played in every one of the qualifiers, his name did not feature in the starting 11 for the opener against Tunisia.
“I don’t think you’re focused enough,” reasoned the coach.
Beckham was further confused when he was ordered to attend the pre-match press conference when the starting line-up was still a secret to the press. A few days later, the “Red Devils” talent remained on the bench against Romania as well, but he started against Colombia and helped the “Three Lions” avoid early elimination.
But against Argentina in Saint-Etienne, everything collapsed.
Adidas’ pre-game campaign featuring Beckham proved prophetic, but in a much different way than the Englishman would have liked. “Today’s England-Argentina match will be remembered for what a player does with his feet” was the tagline, a witty reference to Diego Maradona’s 1986 “hand of god”. Unfortunately for the “three lions”, the sports equipment concern turned out to be right.
Two minutes into the second half, a lying down Beckham recklessly kicked Diego Simeone and received a red card. “I can’t control what happens on the pitch – that’s the way I’ve played since I was 12” Beckham told Four Four Two ahead of the tournament, discussing his grumpy nature and the warning he was given Glenn Hoddle in that direction.
Beckham sought comfort by calling Victoria from the dressing room. Victoria was watching the match at a bar in New York, where she was on tour with the Spice Girls. Later, from the tunnel, Beckham saw England exit the tournament after losing in a penalty shootout. It’s possible that if Beckham hadn’t been sent off earlier, he could have been among the five players selected to take penalties for England. Furthermore, England might have even won the match in regular or extra time had things gone differently.
After the match the atmosphere around Beckham was tense and uncomfortable as most of his teammates did not say anything to him. Only two of his teammates from Manchester United, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes, provided him with some words of support.
Later, Tony Adams also gave him courage: “Whatever happened, you are an excellent young player. You have to be strong.”
The Press Attack
And indeed it should have been. In the press room after the match, the journalists from England had made the atmosphere toxic. “These tournaments are so important that everyone wants to have a World Cup final on their CV. People get carried away and a lot of colleagues thought David had blown it all,” recalled Manchester Evening News correspondent Stuart Matheson.
“I was waiting in the mixing room when Gary Neville walked by and said David was unlikely to want to talk. Later Beckham came out and understandably didn’t want to stop. I saw his eyes were red – he’d obviously been crying,” says the journalist.
The headlines in the English press did nothing to make David feel any better.
“Ten brave lions and one stupid boy” wrote the Daily Mirror, and the next day ran a full-page collage of darts with the midfielder’s head in the center.
Upon the England team’s return from France, Beckham spent a little over an hour on home soil before heading straight to New York to see Victoria. Despite the short time he spent at home, he was still confronted with the harsh reality of what awaited him. As he walked through Heathrow airport, microphones were thrust in his face, and he was asked how it felt to betray his country. Upon landing in America, the paparazzi were once again waiting for him. Reflecting on the experience in his autobiography “My Side,” Beckham later wrote that he had initially thought that it wouldn’t happen in New York.
For twenty days he managed to hide from the noise but in England press members camped outside his parents home in London seeking their account of what happened, and when Beckham arrived back in the capital in mid-July, police were waiting at the airport to escort him. Law enforcement agencies advised his parents to move briefly to his mansion in Manchester so that he would not be alone. Fears were justified after Beckham received death threats and an envelope of bullets in his mailbox.
The incident at the beginning of the story with the stranger staring at him through the window takes place a few weeks later, when his parents have already returned to London. At one point, David decides to call the police, but by the time the patrol arrives, the stranger has disappeared.
Fans reaction and Ferguson role
The morning after the Argentina clash, Beckham received a call from Alex Ferguson. “Don’t worry son – the coach tells him. You are a Manchester United player. We will take care of you.”
At Manchester United, things were different and the club was annoyed at the way Beckham was treated. “The media is ridiculous,” Neville said, and Ferguson wasn’t too happy either: “They wouldn’t have demonized him as much if he had committed murder or treason.”
United fans chanted David’s name all game during the first pre-season test with Birmingham, in which he did not play. Due to his extended rest for the World Cup, he did not appear on the pitch until the tour in Norway against Volerenga, where the local United fans gave him a memorable welcome.
And on the opening weekend of the 1998/99 Premier League campaign, the home fans raised the roof at Old Trafford, erupting after Beckham’s equalizer against Leicester.
“United fans have always been anti-national team. The only thing that matters to them is the club and they believe they have been treated unfairly many times over the years. After the incident they became even more anti-national and fully supported Beckham,” explains Stuart Mathieson. However United could not protect Beckham from rival clubs in the country and during the Charity Shield match at Wembley in August, Arsenal fans raised a “David Beckscum” flag.
United’s first away game of the season is against West Ham at Upton Park – just three miles from his hometown of Leytonstone. The cover of the match program read “You are not forgiven” and armed guards accompanied the star amid rumors he would be attacked by members of the Inter City Firm hooligan group.
“People were waiting for me in the parking lot with faces contorted with anger,” recalled Beckham, who was booed every time he touched the ball by the Hammers’ supporters. He is not forgiven by the West Ham football players, who on several occasions committed gross fouls against him. Becks, however, withstood the provocations – he was constantly looking for the ball and trying to help his team. In the end the match ended – 0:0 and United recorded a second consecutive draw.
Redemption
Gradually, however, his remarkable performances began to lay the foundations for the unforgettable treble. With his trademark goal – a direct free kick – the midfielder helped to draw 3-3 against Barcelona and United passed through the toughest group in the history of the Champions League, which also included Bayern Munich.
The opponent in the quarterfinals? Inter with Diego Simeone in its lineup. Cool-eyed, Beckham shook hands with the Argentine and later provided two assists for the home side’s 2-0 win and acted like a gentleman afterwards, swapping his shirt for Cholo.
The dream treble became more realistic as events unfolded.
Following David’s goal in the FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal at Villa Park, fans rushed onto the pitch and carried him on their shoulders. In the second semi-final against Juventus, Manchester United were initially losing 0-2, but David’s cross from a corner kick led found Roy Keane to their first goal, and the English team eventually won 3-2. During the final round of the Premier League season, Manchester United needed to win against Tottenham at home to secure the title, and once again, David was instrumental in the comeback, scoring the equalizer for 1-1 after Les Ferdinand had been kept quiet Old Trafford.
Four days before the final Champions League match against Bayern Munich, Ferguson asked David if he wanted to rest for the FA Cup final, but David declined, saying “No chance, boss.” As a result, Manchester United defeated Newcastle 2-0. In the absence of suspended Roy Keane and Paul Scholes, David started in central midfield against Bayern Munich in the final, and Ferguson praised him for being “the most effective midfielder on the pitch” after the game. It’s no surprise, as both of England’s historic goals in that match were the result of Beckham’s corner kicks.
It’s no coincidence that Beckham was responsible for the crosses that led to both of United historic goals, making him the key player in those moments.
Beckham’s Triumph
Contributing with eight assists in the 1998/99 Champions League, David was voted UEFA Footballer of the Year and a few months later was pipped only by Rivaldo for the Ballon d’Or.
“Without Beckham, Manchester United would never have come close to the treble that season,” Mathieson is convinced. “He was the driving force of the team and what happened against Argentina strengthened his character. Beckham the footballer went up from Saint-Etienne.”
An hour after the final whistle at Camp Nou in Barcelona, Beckham was holding the cup with his big ears in the parking lot outside the stadium. There he met his father, just as he had done at Geoffroy Guichard 11 months earlier. He put the trophy on the ground and hugged him. For a moment they both returned to that fateful night in France, but it was in the past. Rather than ruining David Beckham, receiving a red card at the World Cup actually propelled him to achieve greatness.
Soon after he became England`s captain and concrete his status of a national hero thanks to his unforgettable freekick goal against Greece. But nothing in his career compares to the 1998/99 season.
“This was the campaign in which I experienced a nightmare and fulfilled my dreams at the same time. In the end, the dreams prevailed,” David returns to the events of almost two decades ago.