David Beckham whipped one top bins to secure the result -
but whatever happened to the rest of the boys who got England to the 2002 World Cup?
(Image credit: Getty)
Never has a home draw against run-of-the-mill opposition been celebrated quite as wildly as England 2-2 Greece, back in 2001. With England needing a single point to get to the World Cup, David Beckham stepped up in the final minute of the game to score a direct free-kick and ensure passage for the Three Lions to Japan and South Korea. The nation went berserk for the moment.
This was another time, where simply getting your country to the World Cup was enough for hero status. Incredibly, Becks won the Sports Personality of the Year Award for that goal, taking the award a year after Sir Steve Redgrave had become Great Britain's greatest-ever Olympian. Mad.
The team that day was full of huge figures, many of whom have only gone onto become household names. Maybe scraping a draw against Greece was an underachievement...
Nigel Martyn
(Image credit: Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
Veteran custodian Nigel Martyn was 35 at the time of this game and playing in goal for Leeds United. He was a member of four England tournament squads too but only made 23 appearances for his country.
Martyn has been a goalkeeping coach in the years since his 2006 retirement from football and is still the most-capped Cornish player in the England squad, ever.
Gary Neville
(Image credit: PA Images)
Then 26, Manchester United right-back Gary Neville was the undisputed first choice in the position for club and country, having won the Premier League for the last two seasons.
Now, he's one of football's most prominent voices every weekend on Sky Sports, an owner of Salford City and has a stint as Valencia manager on his CV, too (though he'd probably rather not focus on that bit).
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Rio Ferdinand
(Image credit: PA Images)
Another youngster of the side, Rio Ferdinand was 22 during the Greece game and not yet made his record-breaking move to Manchester United. The Leeds defender was tipped as a future star, however.
These days, Ferdinand can be found on TNT Sports as the channel's premier pundit for both domestic and European coverage, while he's also had stints on the BBC during major tournaments. He racked up 81 caps for his country and briefly flirted with a boxing career before turning to TV.
Martin Keown
(Image credit: PA)
One of the more senior figures in the England side that day, Martin Keown was 35 years old and had 40 caps. This was his last full appearance as an England international before making three cameos ahead of the 2002 World Cup; he didn't appear in Japan or South Korea, and retired after England were knocked out by eventual winners Brazil.
Keown has also been a regular on the BBC and TNT Sports since but has coached at Arsenal, too. He was also a coach for the Oxford University Blues Football team on a part-time basis.
Ashley Cole
(Image credit: Getty)
The Greece game was just Ashley Cole's seventh appearance in an England shirt. The young Arsenal defender was 20 and was competing for a spot at club level with Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
Cole went onto play 107 times for England, retiring in 2014 as what many view the country's finest-ever left-back. He's since got into coaching and has worked at both at the Chelsea academy and as an assistant coach in England's under-21 set-up.
David Beckham
(Image credit: Getty Images)
David Beckham had already been through the rock bottom of 1998, won the treble with United in 1999 and become his nation's captain in 2000. By 2001, he was a national treasure with the free-kick that sealed World Cup qualification.
He's been busy since, leaving United in 2003 for Real Madrid before revolutionising MLS with an LA Galaxy move in 2007. He had loans at AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain before retiring from the game in 2013 as England's most-capped outfield player ever (later overtaken by Wayne Rooney.
He's since set up his own MLS franchise, Inter Miami, which he owns with a group of investors. Safe to say, he's been a busy bee.
Steven Gerrard
(Image credit: PA)
Twenty-one years old and enjoying his eighth cap - or not enjoying: it was a torrid game - Steven Gerrard was a darling of the England set-up, having already netted in the 5-1 demolition of Germany just a month prior.
Gerrard was injured and missed the 2002 tournament but still ended up with 114 England caps, going to five tournaments - the last two of which, he was captain for. Since 2018, he's been manager of Rangers, where he won the title unbeaten, before stints at Aston Villa and Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia.
Paul Scholes
(Image credit: PA)
You'd never have believed it back then but Paul Scholes was on the way down, as far as his England career was concerned. Just 26 at the time, he was still playing in central midfield at this point - Frank Lampard's first tournament was Euro 2004 - but Scholes retired from international football after that Euros, with just 66 caps.
The midfielder retired from club football in 2011 before a u-turn a year later and another retirement in 2013. Since then, he's had two caretaker roles at Salford City, a failed stint in charge of Oldham Athletic and a media career in which he's become a no-nonsense TNT Sports pundit and a columnist for the Independent.
Nick Barmby
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The Greece draw was Nick Barmby's 23rd and final England cap. Then a 27-year-old at Liverpool, the winger moved onto Leeds, Nottingham Forest and Hull City, where he announced his retirement from playing in January 2012 to manage the side, following a player/caretaker role.
Barmby has since had two months in charge of Scunthorpe United but keeps a low profile these days, with no official social media accounts.
Emile Heskey
(Image credit: Getty)
Back then, Emile Heskey was a regular in the England team as the big man in the perennial front two, often paired with Liverpool clubmate Michael Owen. Just 23 at the time, the Greece match was Heskey's 19th cap.
The Leicesterian striker would end up representing his nation 62 times, making it to the 2010 World Cup as a 32-year-old with a reputation for hold-up play and assisting his strike partner but not necessarily a particularly prolific goalscorer. Since then, he's been coached at Cheshire League One club Egerton and in 2020, he revealed he was looking to take on an internship coaching at Leicester City's women's side.
Heskey has also been a TNT Sports pundit, most often seen during Leicester games.
Robbie Fowler
(Image credit: Getty)
The hat-trick hero of Munich in September, Michael Owen, was absent from the Greece line-up in October - but would win the Ballon d'Or later that year. His replacement at Old Trafford that day was Robbie Fowler, another hero of Liverpool's 2001 treble.
Fowler was at Leeds by now. He only received five more England caps after this, retiring a year later from the international scene and in 2012 from club football, after a year in Thailand. Most recently, Fowler has managed in East Bengal and Saudi Arabia.
Andy Cole
(Image credit: Getty)
A substitute that day for England, 29-year-old Andy Cole had just joined Blackburn Rovers and on for his 15th and final cap for his country. He's the third-highest goalscorer in Premier League history with 187 goals - but the marksman only managed one in a Three Lions shirt.
Cole has had a difficult time since retiring in 2008, undergoing a kidney transplant in 2017. He's worked on his coaching badges, however, and was one of Sol Campbell's coaches at Southend United until June 2020.
Teddy Sheringham
(Image credit: PA)
The oldest member of the England team that day, Sheringham came off the bench and scored almost immediately from a corner to level the score. This was his 42nd England game at the age of 35: he'd make a further nine appearances before retiring in 2002 from international duty and would play professionally until the age of 42, finishing his career at Colchester United.
Sheringham came out of retirement naming himself in Stevenage's squad when he was manager during the 2015/16 season and in 2017/18, he managed Indian side ATK. He has also played in various poker tournaments in his retirement and in 2020, he competed in ITV show The Masked Singer dressed as a tree and singing It Must Be Love by Madness.
Steve McManaman
(Image credit: Getty)
The only player in the squad that day who plied their trade overseas, Real Madrid's Steve McManaman also came on as a sub in his final appearance for England against Greece. By this point, his attitude and mentality were being questioned, with Sven Goran Eriksson seemingly not rating the midfielder.
McManaman has coached at Liverpool under Brendan Rodgers and Jurgen Klopp and has become one of TNT Sports' most prominent commentators and pundits, too.
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Mark White has been at on FourFourTwo since joining in January 2020, first as a staff writer before becoming content editor in 2023. An encyclopedia of football shirts and boots knowledge – both past and present – Mark has also represented FFT at both FA Cup and League Cup finals (though didn't receive a winners' medal on either occasion) and has written pieces for the mag ranging on subjects from Bobby Robson's season at Barcelona to Robinho's career. He has written cover features for the mag on Mikel Arteta and Martin Odegaard, and is assisted by his cat, Rosie, who has interned for the brand since lockdown.
