After the disappointment of being eliminated in the second round of the 1998 world cup finals, Glenn Hoddle's start to qualification for Euro 2000 went all wrong, they suffered a heartbreaking defeat to Sweden in the opening match and that was followed up by a home draw against Bulgaria, things were looking far from impressive for Hoddle and in November 1998 he left the post as England manager.
The ‘people’s choice,’ Kevin Keegan took over as manager and the response was immediate, a great 3-1 victory over Poland, however the honeymoon period for Keegan ended after that as they drew three matches to so called weaker opposition and were lucky to finish second in their qualifying group just ahead of Poland. England beat Scotland in a two legged play off match 2-1 on aggregate to fortunately qualify for Euro 2000, despite England losing 1-0 at Wembley to the Scots. England’s build up to Euro 2000 was rocky as they narrowly beat Malta 2-1. Keegan really felt the pressure during Euro 2000, they surrendered a two goal lead in a shocking match against Portugal to lose the game 3-2, they followed that up by a 1-0 victory over Germany, however the English performance was that bad their was no point of jubilation. In the final group match against Romania they were poor and sloppy, which led to them losing 3-2.
Things went from bad to worse for Keegan in England’s opening world cup 2002 qualification match, after scraping a 1-0 victory against the Germans during Euro 2000, the German’s reversed the score line in their match against England which proved to be the final football match England ever played at the old Wembley stadium. Keegan and England were given abuse after the game and Keegan felt it was time that a fresh manager took on the role as England manager. Their match away at Finland a few days later was an uninspired performance by England and they were lucky to come out of it with a point. In November 2000, Peter Taylor installed David Beckham as the New England captain and introduced new young players into the starting line up in a football match against Italy. The Italian’s won 1-0 however England looked much more encouraging.
Sven Goran Eriksson took over the post as England manager and he got off to a flying start in his opening match against Spain which ended in a 3-0 victory to England. A successive run of four victories after that was ended by a 2-0 defeat against Holland in a friendly. Eriksson’s greatest day in charge for England happened on a night in Munich where England thrashed Germany 5-1 and Michael Owen scored a fine hat trick to put England in pole position of the group. England needed to beat Greece at old Trafford to secure qualification, however England were 2-1 down with seconds remaining and David Beckham belted a free kick from 25 yards out into the back of the net to make it 2-2, which was enough to secure England’s finish as group winners. England’s preparation to the 2002 world cup did not go well, they only managed one win in six matches going into the finals, and David Beckham and Kieron Dyer were looking doubtful in playing during the world cup as they were both struggling with injuries. Beckham made his comeback to skipper England during the world cup and he scored a vital penalty in the match against Argentina which was 1-0. A fine 3-0 victory against Denmark in the second round convinced many that it could be England’s year to win the trophy, however after going 1-0 in front against Brazil through a Michael Owen goal in the first half, Ronaldino and Rivaldo replied for Brazil and England lost 2-1.