Anyone familiar with England knew one thing very well: placing too much faith in the national team was usually dangerous. The moment supporters convinced themselves that everything was finally in place, England had a habit of producing exactly the sort of result that reminded them how wrong they had been. Yet when expectations disappeared completely, the team could just as easily produce an unexpected surprise.
England's next two World Cup qualifiers appeared straightforward on paper. Wales were ranked seventy-second in the world, while Azerbaijan sat outside FIFA's top hundred. Wales would visit Old Trafford, followed by an away trip to Azerbaijan. Before either match, almost nobody seriously expected England to lose.
Then England lost both.
0-1.
1-0.
The first defeat came against Wales in the all-British encounter at Old Trafford. The second followed away in Azerbaijan. Two matches that had been treated almost as guaranteed victories ended in consecutive humiliations.
It hardly seemed believable.
The Times summed up the national mood with a stark headline:
ENGLAND'S SKY FALLS IN.
The consequences were serious. Poland and Austria both collected victories during the same period, leaving England fourth in their qualifying group and already well behind the position required for automatic qualification.
How had a team filled with some of the Premier League's most celebrated players managed to lose twice to supposedly inferior opposition?
Against Wales, the decisive incident came when Ryan Giggs broke into space and forced Campbell into conceding a penalty. But reducing the defeat to one defensive mistake ignored the larger problem. England had been disorganised from beginning to end, particularly in attack, where there was almost no structure to their possession.
Giggs created several dangerous openings of his own, and had Simon Davies and Carl Robinson taken their chances, Wales could easily have won by two or three goals.
Eriksson had entered the match determined to build the midfield around Gerrard and Lampard together. On paper, pairing two of England's most highly regarded central midfielders seemed obvious. On the pitch, however, the partnership failed completely.
Neither player naturally held his position. Both wanted to move forward, attack the penalty area, and influence the final third. Without anyone consistently managing the space behind them or controlling the speed of possession, England's midfield repeatedly became stretched.
Only after Owen Hargreaves came on did the team begin to recover some shape. Even then, Hargreaves was primarily a ball-winner rather than a tempo-setting passer, and by that point Wales already had something to defend.
The reaction after the defeat was predictable.
Campbell, having conceded the penalty, became the first target. Several commentators argued that the Arsenal defender, now past thirty, was no longer the player he had once been. Wenger's increasing use of Brede Hangeland alongside Cygan was cited as evidence that Arsenal themselves were beginning to prepare for life without Campbell as an automatic starter.
Under pressure to make changes, Eriksson selected John Terry for the trip to Azerbaijan.
Terry's form over the previous few seasons had been extremely consistent. New Manchester United had conceded only one league goal in their first eight matches of the new campaign, and the partnership between Terry and Curtis was widely regarded as one of the strongest in England.
Against Azerbaijan, Terry partnered Rio Ferdinand in central defence.
Eriksson also changed the midfield. Hargreaves started as the holding player, with Gerrard and Lampard ahead of him, while Defoe, Owen, and Rooney formed a three-man attack.
The 4-3-3 had become increasingly fashionable in the Premier League. Manchester United, Arsenal, and New Manchester United had all used variations of it, and Eriksson clearly hoped the extra midfielder would help England gain greater control.
Instead, Azerbaijan shocked them almost immediately.
Less than three minutes had been played when England failed to deal properly with a corner, allowing an Azerbaijani centre-back to score.
From that point onward, the home side retreated almost entirely into their own half.
England attacked desperately, but without precision. Azerbaijan defended the penalty area with numbers, disrupted rhythm through repeated fouls, and conceded set piece after set piece without ever appearing particularly frightened by them.
"Twenty-one set pieces," Andy Gray said after the match. "Eriksson must be thinking about Beckham tonight. When David Beckham was taking those deliveries, opponents simply couldn't afford to keep giving England opportunities from dead balls. Without him, they've lost much of that threat, and they've also lost someone who knows how to control the pace of a match."
If losing to Wales could be dismissed as a freak result, defeat in Azerbaijan removed that excuse.
England clearly had a problem.
Martin Samuel was one of the first journalists to identify what he believed it was.
"When Beckham was playing," he wrote, "people complained about the backwards passes, the sideways passes, the way he drifted into central midfield to receive the ball, and even the fact that he sometimes dropped into defensive positions. Now he isn't there. So what are we watching?"
"Yes, England can line up in a fashionable 4-3-3. But is the defence more secure? Is the attack more dangerous? Can this team move the ball into the final third with any sense of order?"
Samuel reminded readers of something Ethan had written during the criticism of Beckham several weeks earlier: before everyone celebrated driving him out of the national team, perhaps they should consider what England would look like without him.
Now they had their answer.
England had failed to beat Wales and Azerbaijan.
Meanwhile, Beckham was producing some of the finest football of his career for New Manchester United, receiving widespread praise for exactly the qualities that had so often been criticised when he wore an England shirt.
Samuel's conclusion was simple.
"If England want to solve the problem, bring Beckham back. Then have the courage to build the midfield around the player he is now, not the right-winger he was five years ago. New Manchester United have already shown how to use him."
The two defeats sent much of the English media into panic.
Television coverage of the Wales match had even picked out Beckham sitting in the Old Trafford stands alongside Victoria, Ethan, and Eva. The group were seen talking throughout the match, and Beckham's disappointment at the final whistle was obvious.
Within days, newspapers that had previously questioned whether he deserved an England place were suddenly arguing that he might be the most indispensable player in the squad.
Even some of his harshest critics acknowledged that England without Beckham had looked dreadful.
Then came the calls for his return.
Supporters joined the campaign, and banners began appearing outside Newton Heath asking Beckham to reconsider his retirement.
"We got it wrong," one young woman told television reporters through tears. "I know the supporters played a part in pushing him away, and we have to accept that. But I still want him back. I want him to help England qualify and take us to the World Cup in Germany."
...
On October 16, New Manchester United travelled to Goodison Park to face Everton.
Ramadan had begun the previous day, so Mourinho took particular care with the schedules of Kolo and Yaya Touré. Essien was also rotated after a demanding run of matches, leaving De Rossi and Beckham together in central midfield, while Maicon started at right-back.
The banners followed Beckham to Liverpool.
Several England supporters in the stands displayed messages asking him to return to the national team. With England sitting on only two points from their first four qualifiers, the situation had become increasingly serious. Their remaining matches were beginning to look like must-win fixtures.
Beckham, meanwhile, had enjoyed something England's other internationals had not.
Rest.
Mourinho had deliberately given him a full week away from football during the international break, allowing him to recover physically and mentally.
The result was obvious.
Beckham returned looking exceptionally fresh and contributed a goal and an assist as New Manchester United beat Everton 4-1.
Seeing him control another Premier League match only intensified the calls for an international comeback. Yet when Beckham was named Man of the Match and interviewed afterwards, his answer remained unchanged.
"My decision wasn't made in anger," he said. "I thought about it carefully. Right now I'm playing well for New Manchester United, and that's where my focus is. I'm not thinking about anything beyond this club and the matches in front of us."
He was asked specifically about England.
"Of course it hurts to see them lose. England are one of the three teams that mean the most to me, alongside Manchester United and New Manchester United. But I've retired from international football. All I can do now is support the players and wish them well. I still believe they can turn things around."
The interviewer pressed him about England's next qualifier against Northern Ireland.
"It's obviously a very important match, but I'm sure the manager understands that better than anyone. As for coming back, no. I haven't considered it."
Many supporters were deeply disappointed.
A smaller and more extreme group reacted angrily, accusing Beckham of lacking patriotism for refusing to return when England were struggling. But after the abuse he had already endured before retiring, those attacks gained little wider support. Most people simply regretted the situation and hoped he might eventually change his mind.
New Manchester United had no time to dwell on it.
After Everton, they travelled into the cold of Moscow for their Champions League match against CSKA.
The conditions became almost as significant an opponent as the Russian side themselves. The temperature was bitter, the pitch difficult, and New Manchester United struggled for rhythm after conceding first.
At the crucial moment, Beckham intervened again.
His corner created the equaliser, with John Terry rising above the defence to head home.
Then, late in the match, Beckham collected possession in midfield and struck a long diagonal ball over the defensive line. Kaká timed his run perfectly, beat the offside trap, drove towards goal, and lifted a composed finish over the advancing goalkeeper.
New Manchester United won 2-1.
The victory came at a price.
De Rossi and Drogba were both injured by heavy challenges and left Moscow carrying minor knocks. Neither problem was considered serious, but Mourinho was unwilling to take unnecessary risks in the following league match against Birmingham.
Yaya Touré replaced De Rossi in midfield, while Villa started in Drogba's place.
This was exactly where the depth of New Manchester United's squad became valuable. Yaya handled the responsibility well and, with Birmingham defending aggressively, produced the decisive moment himself.
A powerful long-range strike gave the Red Rebels a narrow 1-0 home victory.
Birmingham were another Premier League club currently surrounded by takeover speculation. Steve Bruce had kept them comfortably around mid-table, and their strong performances against leading sides had attracted considerable attention from potential investors.
But almost as soon as New Manchester United's match ended, English football was hit by another story.
A scandal was about to break.
And for an England team already struggling badly, the timing could hardly have been worse.
(To be continued.)
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