2002 - England's Eastern promise
Having qualified for the World Cup as group winners England were expected to do great things in Japan, but before the squad left home shores they were hit by a number of injury blows.
Talismanic skipper David Beckham limped out of a challenge with Argentine defender Aldo Duscher, during Manchester United's Champions League semi-final clash with Deportivo Coruna, with a broken metatarsal in his left foot and his World Cup dreams in shreds.
With England manager Sven Goran Eriksson set to announce his Finals squad only 25 days later the nation were literally urged to pray, while cutting edge technology attempted to heal Beckham's foot in record time.
The England captain had a special football boot made and after a few tentative steps on the training pitch a half-fit Beckham was named in the squad in the hope he would recover his best form - he never would during the competition.
The metatarsal then became a curse on the England team as right-back Gary Neville was ruled out with the injury and Liverpool's Danny Murphy also withdrew from the squad, causing a recently returned Trevor Sinclair to fly back to Japan, after breaking his in training.
A patched up England kicked off in the Far East with two friendlies. First up it was South Korea and the co-hosts provided Sven's squad with a 1-1 wake-up call as Ji-Sung Park equalised Michael Owens' opener.
For their final warm-up match in Japan Eriksson's side took on Cameroon as preperation for 'Group of Death' opponents Nigeria - along with Sweden and Argentina. The Cameroonians, sporting basketball style vests, played a physical game and it was left to Robbie Fowler to save England's blushes with an injury time equaliser to make it 2-2.
Two pre-tournament draws hardly filled the England camp with confidence but they went into the 2002 finals unbeaten and with Beckham on course to be fit for the opening match with Sweden.
The England captain lead a youthful England onto the Saitama Stadium pitch on June 2, to win his 50th cap, and it was his corner that provided Sol Campbell with his first international goal as England took a 1-0 lead after 24 minutes. But Eriksson's compatriots fought back to force veteran keeper David Seaman into a series of good saves before Niclas Alexandersson hit a 59th minute leveller to make the final score 1-1.
As England were drawing with Sweden their next opponents Argentina were beating Nigeria 1-0 to take control of the Group F and up the ante for the June 7 clash in Sapporo between two arch-rivals.
The footballing relationship between Argentina and England has been volatile ever since Argentine skipper Antonio Rattin was sent-off at the 1966 World Cup and England manager Alf Ramsey labelled their team 'animals'.
To top that, the two countries went to war over the Falkland/Malvinas Islands in 1982, Diego Maradona handled the ball into the net to beat England at the Mexico 1986 World Cup and Diego Simione's reaction helped get a foolish David Beckham sent-off at France 1998.
So as the teams emerged into a Sapporo Dome bedecked with England flags it was hardly surprising when TV pictures showed some Argentine fans spitting on the St George's cross.
Gabriel Batistuta got booked for a brutal late challenge on Ashley Cole, then lead with an elbow when challenging for header with Beckham, and Cole exacted revenge with a crude tackle on Ariel Ortega.
But in the end it was Beckham who completed a personal revenge mission to blast England to victory with a 42nd minute penalty after Owen, who also hit the post, had been brought down on the box.
Argentina pressed for an equaliser as fulltime neared but couldn't find a way through a massed defence and England grabbed their first win over their arch-rivals since 1966.
With Sweden beating Nigeria 2-1, England's result meant they only needed one point against the already eliminated Super Eagles to book their place in the last 16.
England looked nervy against the Africans, and with Nigeria just going through the motions, the game in Osaka ended in a drab 0-0 draw. But the performance of defensive rock Rio Ferdinand gave England cause for celebration as they booked their place in the next phase of the Finals.
Elsewhere in the group an Anders Svensson freekick gave Sweden a 1-1 draw against Argentina as the Latin American, pre-tournament favourites crashed out and the Scandinavians topped Group F. England finished as runners-up and would face Denmark in Niigata on June 15.
Niigata's Big Swan Stadium was awash with England fans - thanks mainly to Beckham's high-profile in the Far East - as nerves got the better of Danish keeper Thomas Sorensen and he fumbled Ferdinand's poor header into the back of the net to gift England with an early lead.
Owen and Emile Heskey also got on the score sheet before half-time as England cruised to a 3-0 triumph, their biggest win in the World Cup finals, to set up a quarter-final with either Belgium or Brazil.
The nation was split as to who they would prefer England to face in Shizuokaon on June 21. The more sensible wanted Belgium to be the opposition but the tantalising prospect of an England-Brazil clash proved too much for many and when the Samba Boys beat Belgium 2-0 the scene was set for a quarter-final clash that many thought should have been the final - and could have been had England topped their group.
The pre-match hype suggested that whoever won this clash would go onto to become World Champions, as was eventually the case, and with the pressure weighed heavy on the shoulders of England's youngsters to vanquish the spectre of 1966.
England looked on course for their first win over Brazil since 1984's 2-0 triumph in the Estadio Maracana when Owen latched onto a Heskey throughball, via a Lucio blunder, and slotted calmly past a sprawling Marcos with only 23 minutes on the clock.
Brazil had levelled two minutes into injury time and it proved a huge psychological blow for the Three Lions who conceded a freakish second goal minutes after the break.
Ronaldinho lined up a free-kick in an innocuous position as Seaman pulled away from his line expecting a cross. The Brazilian crossed the ball into the box from 35 yards out, it sailed over a back-pedalling Seaman and into the top corner with the aid of the crossbar.
To this day Ronaldinho insists he meant to shoot but his teammates have suggested that in the dressing room the PSG midfielder admitted it was a fluke. Whatever the intention, Brazil were 2-1 up and England were behind for the first time during the tournament and chasing the game against opponents lethal on the counter.
Eriksson's side had been ineffective as an attacking force in the second-half in previous matches and it proved to be the case again as a tired looking England failed to trouble Brazil, despite Ronaldinho being sent-off for stamping on Danny Mills.
The Three Lions had failed to mount a passionate response and toppled out of the competition with something of a whimper, rather than their customary roar.
Eriksson's side had done well but the lack of a fight back against Brazil, who went on to win the World Cup with a 2-0 victory over surprise finalists Germany, left a sour end to decent campaign.
On returning to England Seaman shouldered the majority of the blame for England's exit, following his mistake from Ronaldinho's freekick, and the veteran will not be around for England's next World Cup assault, the rest of the young side probably will.
2002 Qualifying | 2002 Finals
