12 February 2003, Boleyn Ground, Upton Park. Australia 3–1 England.
By Hamish McTavish
A Wednesday delayed a quarter of an hour by the traffic, thirty-four thousand in the old ground, and a manager who had decided one England was not a big enough experiment. Sven-Göran Eriksson named a first XI and a second XI and told the night they would play one after the other. James Beattie had the only debut among the seniors. Wayne Rooney, seventeen years and a hundred and eleven days, was waiting for the interval so he could break a record that had sat since James Prinsep. Frank Farina had six Premiership players and a side that had lost a World Cup play-off to Uruguay. The Sydney Morning Herald, in the morning, would print Australia 3 Easybeats 1. The Guardian would not even give them one team to be ashamed of. Socceroos shame both Englands.
Cricket, tennis, rugby, and now this. That was the first sentence Kevin McCarra needed. England had never lost to Australia at football. David Beckham had the free-kick from thirty-five yards that Mark Schwarzer did not have to save. Michael Owen had the evening he was supposed to punish a keeper who dithered. David James was at home, in the West Ham goal, which is a comfort until the far post fills with Tony Popovic. Eriksson had a 2–2 with Macedonia still in the mouth and a qualifier with Liechtenstein and Turkey coming. This was no way to prepare for them. He prepared it anyway. The Boleyn waited for the traffic to clear and then for the laboratory to open.
They kicked off, late, anyway.
Australia were not timid. Harry Kewell hit a swerver from twenty-five yards that James tipped past. Scott Chipperfield flighted one over Rio Ferdinand and James arched to tip Mark Viduka's header over. Then, in the seventeenth minute, Stan Lazaridis delivered a free-kick from the right and Popovic, Crystal Palace, rose above Gary Neville at the far post and headed it down. One-nil, and Beattie's debut had become a chase. Owen took the ball off Schwarzer and hit the side-netting. Paul Scholes swivelled and snapped one across. Sol Campbell's header from a corner was cleared off the line by Lucas Neill. The experienced lot created the spasms. They did not create a score.
The second is the turn. Frank Lampard lost it cheaply, two minutes from the interval, and Kewell was put through on the right. He shook off Ferdinand, his old Leeds teammate, rounded James, and finished as if the night had always been his. Two-nil. The crowd booed the seniors off. Then they roared when they were told the whole side was coming off, which is a kind of hope and also a kind of contempt. Farina, you suspect, had already spoken to his dressing-room about the impertinence of the scheme.
Rooney spun left inside two minutes and picked out Darius Vassell. Schwarzer smothered it. Rooney hit one from twenty-five yards straight at him, had another blocked, had one deflected wide. Jermaine Jenas, nineteen, wriggled free on the right and put in a centre the files called Beckhamesque. Francis Jeffers, first and only cap, headed it in just after the hour. One-two, and the youngsters looked, almost to a man, more composed than the first-choice side. Paul Robinson palmed away Marco Bresciano. Then Kewell went off, which was the most welcome change of the night, and John Aloisi ran the other way, and Brett Emerton, six minutes from the end, opened his body and slid it under Robinson. Three-one. Both Englands. Fox Sports had Roos Rule Britannia. The West Australian had Kewell on fire as England in ashes. Sepp Blatter would rage about the eleven changes. IFAB would later cut friendlies to six substitutes because of nights like this. Eriksson had the laboratory. Australia had the result.
Popovic had the header. Kewell had the round and the fire. Emerton had the third. Jeffers had the only English goal of his life. Rooney had the record and the crosses. Jenas had the centre. James had his own patch. Ferdinand had his old teammate. Neville had the far post. Eriksson had both XIs and the Macedonia hangover he had failed to shift. Farina had the impertinence answered. The crowd had the roar at half-time and the score at the end.
They said an experiment. They said the kids. They said first ever. They said Easybeats. If you still think it was only a friendly, a funeral is only a Tuesday. It was two teams in one night, and they lost to both of them, in a ground that had already heard the cricket and the tennis and the rugby, and now had to hear the football as well. They took the ashes they did not even play for.
Beattie, muscular and direct, was supposed to complement Owen. The complement never arrived because the service never did. Dyer had the spasms of invention. Scholes had the swivel. Lampard had the cheap loss that became Kewell. Eriksson's regulars were not cowed, McCarra wrote. They were simply without fluency. The second-half boys — Robinson, Danny Mills, Wes Brown, Ledley King, Paul Konchesky, Vassell, Owen Hargreaves, Danny Murphy, Jenas, Rooney, Jeffers — had the ideal laboratory, a two-goal hole and no comparison left to fear. Romance, the same piece said, was usually stifled. Australia had been to a play-off and learned how to close a night. They closed this one on a kid who will be the story of the next decade and a first-choice side that had already gone to the bath. Blatter could rage. The score did not care.
Beckham's thirty-five yards were a gesture. Owen's side-netting was a chance. James's own patch was a warning. The second England had the record and the header and still left 3-1 down, which is how you know the experiment was not a youth policy. It was a night. Australia had come for a winter of English sport and added the one they were not supposed to be able to play. Both Englands came off. Only one score stayed on the board.
The film is up. Tyler still has the roar at the interval, Rooney's first touches, Emerton's slide. Do not review it. Watch both Englands come off.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBeMTgfygec
Related reading
- At least there's no more Sven — Gelsenkirchen 2006, the same manager, the end of the laboratory
- A cross that drifted — Shizuoka 2002, Eriksson’s England, another night the plan did not hold
If the nights sit right, the shirts and the wall are at /shop.
FAQ
What was the score when Australia beat England at Upton Park in 2003?
Australia 3–1 England, on 12 February 2003 at the Boleyn Ground, Upton Park. Popovic, Kewell and Emerton scored; Jeffers replied for the second XI.
Why “Both Englands”?
Eriksson played a first XI then a second XI in the same friendly. The Guardian: Socceroos shame both Englands.
Was this Rooney’s debut?
Yes. Wayne Rooney, seventeen years and a hundred and eleven days, came on at half-time and broke the youngest-cap record that had sat since James Prinsep.