England's home qualifier against Northern Ireland carried significance far beyond the three points at stake. It was Sven-Göran Eriksson's 50th match in charge, but more importantly, it marked David Beckham's return to international football and his restoration as England captain.
After the national team's recent run of poor results, the FA had also decided on a change of surroundings. Instead of returning to Old Trafford, England staged the match at New Manchester United's stadium in east Manchester.
All 55,000 tickets sold out.
England's training camp had also been based at Newton Heath, giving many of the internationals their first close look at New Manchester United's facilities.
Even Arsenal's Ashley Cole had to admit that the infrastructure was exceptional. In purely physical terms, he felt Newton Heath was ahead of Arsenal's own training centre at London Colney.
The players were equally impressed when they entered the stadium on matchday.
It was one thing to hear people describe New Manchester United's new ground as one of the most modern stadiums in Europe. It was another to experience it with 55,000 supporters inside.
Even during the warm-up, the noise rolled down from the stands and across the pitch.
The steep design brought the crowd unusually close to the action while preserving excellent sightlines throughout the ground, and the result was an atmosphere that felt far more intense than the players had expected.
Eriksson appeared to have considered both the venue and Beckham's new role carefully when selecting his side.
John Terry partnered Curtis in central defence, with Ashley Cole at left-back and Gary Neville on the right. Paul Robinson started in goal.
The most significant changes came in midfield.
Beckham started centrally alongside Nicky Butt, with Owen Hargreaves left on the bench. Ahead of them, Joe Cole played from the left, Frank Lampard through the middle and Steven Gerrard from the right.
Wayne Rooney led the line alone, with Michael Owen among the substitutes.
England were effectively playing a 4-2-3-1, and Beckham was given responsibility for directing the side from deep.
Butt's job was primarily defensive. He would tackle, intercept and cover space, freeing Beckham to dictate possession, much as Essien or De Rossi did for him at New Manchester United.
Eriksson had placed particular emphasis on that relationship during training.
More than anything else, he wanted the rest of the team to recognise that Beckham was now the central reference point in England's build-up.
To understand the role properly, Eriksson had even spoken privately with Mourinho.
He had prepared as thoroughly as he could.
Now he had to see whether it would work.
The referee's whistle was almost drowned out by the roar from the stands.
England immediately took control of the ball.
Beckham was heavily involved from the opening minutes.
Mourinho had withdrawn him at half-time of New Manchester United's previous league match once the result was secure, specifically to ensure that his captain arrived fresh for England duty.
Operating with considerable freedom in central midfield, Beckham resisted the temptation to force the game early. Instead, he concentrated on establishing England's rhythm.
He moved the ball from side to side, combining regularly with Ashley Cole and Gary Neville, while also dropping towards Terry and Curtis whenever Northern Ireland blocked the forward passing lanes.
To some supporters, the patience looked like hesitation.
The boos began almost immediately.
There remained a section of the England support firmly opposed to Beckham's return. When he played well, there was little they could say. The moment anything looked unconvincing, however, they were ready to make themselves heard.
They had barely been booing for a minute when England demonstrated exactly what Beckham was trying to do.
Curtis stepped forward from central defence.
Beckham played the ball across to him and moved into another pocket of space. Butt dropped deeper to provide cover, while Curtis, before Northern Ireland could close him down, returned the ball into Beckham's path.
By then, England's four attacking players had already begun moving.
Beckham carried the ball forward and exchanged a sharp one-two with Joe Cole, who had dropped off the front line to receive.
The return pass opened the centre.
Beckham looked up and immediately threaded the ball between Northern Ireland's two centre-backs.
Rooney used his strength to hold off his marker, stayed onside and met the pass in stride.
One touch.
Then a low finish.
The goalkeeper could not reach it.
1-0.
The stadium erupted.
England's confidence rose immediately, and Beckham seemed to grow with it.
The surroundings were familiar. So was the rhythm of the football.
Once he settled into the match, his influence became increasingly obvious. He passed well while moving, constantly repositioned himself to offer an outlet and made several important interceptions when Northern Ireland tried to break forward.
The longer the match went on, the more naturally England began playing around him.
In the 23rd minute, Beckham collected possession deep and struck a long diagonal towards Gerrard.
Gerrard beat the full-back before crossing into the middle.
Rooney controlled the ball and tried to turn for a shot, but a defender closed the angle. Rather than forcing it, he laid the ball back towards Lampard, arriving late from midfield.
Lampard had been in excellent scoring form for Chelsea and did not waste the space Rooney had created.
He met the ball firmly and drove a low shot into the bottom-right corner.
2-0.
The noise inside the stadium rose again.
England had not played with this kind of fluency for some time, particularly in possession.
Beckham's presence gave the midfield structure. Gerrard and Lampard, so often criticised for occupying similar spaces, suddenly looked far more dangerous because neither was being asked to control the match from deep.
Joe Cole repeatedly dropped away from the defensive line before turning and carrying the ball at opponents. Rooney occupied the centre-backs, creating room for others while remaining a constant scoring threat himself.
Beckham connected everything.
Three minutes later, England struck again.
Lampard received another forward pass from Beckham and shifted the ball towards Gerrard on the right side of the penalty area.
Gerrard kept his composure and drove a low finish through the goalkeeper's legs.
3-0.
In the 31st minute, Beckham delivered a free kick into the area.
Curtis attacked it.
His header flew into the net.
4-0.
The England supporters were delirious.
Most had arrived simply hoping for a convincing response after the defeats to Wales and Azerbaijan.
Very few had expected this.
Within barely half an hour, England had dismantled Northern Ireland.
The quality of the opposition had to be acknowledged, of course. But after watching England struggle against supposedly weaker teams only weeks earlier, the transformation was impossible to ignore.
For the remainder of the first half, England deliberately reduced the tempo.
Even then, Beckham almost created another goal just before the interval, launching one final attack that forced Northern Ireland into desperate defending.
At half-time, Eriksson was delighted.
He praised the team as a whole, but three players in particular had transformed the structure of the side.
Beckham controlled the tempo.
Terry and Curtis gave him the security to do it.
Whenever Beckham's forward options disappeared and the wide routes were closed, one of the two centre-backs moved into a position where he could recycle possession safely.
It was a detail England had often lacked before.
With Terry and Curtis behind him, Beckham knew he did not have to force a difficult pass simply because his first option had been blocked. He could turn, play backwards and trust the defenders to return the ball once another route opened.
That simple support structure made England's possession far more stable.
Eriksson was beginning to understand why Beckham's passing statistics at New Manchester United were so impressive.
It was not simply that Beckham possessed exceptional technique.
Mourinho's structure constantly gave him options.
Kaká would drop into midfield. Terry and Curtis remained available behind him. Ronaldo and Robben could come short from the flanks. Evra and Kolo Touré pushed forward outside them. Essien stayed within supporting distance.
Wherever Beckham turned, somebody was usually available.
That was the real strength of New Manchester United's system. Individual quality mattered, but every player was connected to the next.
England's first-half performance had given Eriksson a glimpse of the same principle.
His next problem was deciding whether to keep this exact structure for future matches or begin adjusting it.
That question could wait.
There was no reason to change anything yet.
England remained in control after the restart.
Beckham continued managing the tempo with impressive discipline. When the opportunity appeared, England accelerated suddenly and attacked at speed. When it disappeared, he slowed the game and circulated possession until another opening emerged.
There was still, however, a clear difference between England and New Manchester United.
The Red Rebels had spent years refining their collective movement. Their transitions were sharper, their passing angles more instinctive and their understanding of when to accelerate or slow down far more developed.
England were nowhere near that level yet.
That became increasingly obvious as the second half progressed.
England extended their lead to 6-0, with Rooney and Lampard both completing braces, but the growing scoreline encouraged the players to abandon some of the discipline that had made the first half so impressive.
Too many began attacking at once.
Northern Ireland responded by dropping almost everyone behind the ball.
An experienced, fully coordinated side might have recognised the situation and simply circulated possession, forcing the visitors to chase and waiting patiently for spaces to appear.
England did the opposite.
The attacking players became increasingly determined to force another goal, repeatedly carrying the ball into crowded areas and trying to break through individually.
The structure began to disappear.
Beckham was no longer the automatic reference point in every attack.
And once England stopped playing as a team, their individual superiority mattered far less.
Northern Ireland could not match them player for player, but with almost everyone packed behind the ball, they were able to close space and survive.
Worse, England's impatience began exposing them at the other end.
In the 77th minute, Northern Ireland broke quickly down one flank after Ashley Cole had pushed high up the pitch.
Four minutes later, they attacked the opposite side after Gary Neville had done the same.
Both counterattacks reached dangerous areas.
Both were stopped by Terry and Curtis.
The New Manchester United centre-backs reproduced exactly the same calm, disciplined defending they showed every week at club level, reading the danger early and closing the routes towards Robinson's goal.
England kept their clean sheet.
But those two counterattacks exposed the flaw beneath an otherwise emphatic victory.
Afterwards, England became noticeably more cautious. The attacking players were suddenly conscious of the spaces they had been leaving behind, and their forward movement became less decisive.
Northern Ireland, meanwhile, had little appetite left for another serious push.
The final ten minutes drifted away.
When the referee finally blew for full-time, most of the stadium rose in applause.
England had won 6-0.
Rooney had scored twice.
Lampard had scored twice.
Gerrard had scored.
Curtis had scored.
Yet much of the applause was directed towards the three New Manchester United players at the heart of the performance.
Beckham, Terry and Curtis walked towards the stands together after the final whistle.
At New Manchester United, acknowledging the supporters after a match had become almost ritual. The club encouraged it because those small moments mattered. They strengthened the bond between players and supporters and reinforced the sense that everyone belonged to the same institution.
The three men applauded the crowd before eventually turning back towards the tunnel, talking and laughing as they went.
Up in the executive box, Ethan finally allowed himself to relax.
Beside him, Chad Yeager did the same.
England had desperately needed a victory.
More than that, they had needed something capable of changing the mood around the national team.
Beckham had returned and, in his first match back, orchestrated a 6-0 win.
He had not solved every problem. The final half-hour had shown that clearly enough.
England were still a long way from becoming the finished article.
But on this night, Beckham had given them exactly what they needed.
The victory had not been perfect.
Their returning captain almost had been.
(To be continued.)