Greece Lightning 絕殺救國

England was staring at an unthinkable home defeat to Greece back in 2001, which would have meant that World Cup qualification was uncertain. In the final minute of the match, however, Beckham stepped up to score a beautifully struck free kick, ensuring automatic passage to the finals. England was off to the World Cup, and Beckham was absolved of his previous soccer sins.

2001年世界杯預選賽階段，英格蘭隊令人意外地在主場落后于希臘隊，這也導致他們有可能無緣02年的韓日世界杯。在比賽進入最后幾分鐘時，又是貝克漢姆，用他美妙的任意球扳平了比分，也將英格蘭隊送進了世界杯的決賽圈。這粒金子般的進球也洗刷了小貝上屆世界杯留下的罪名。

Them's the Breaks 身負傷、心更痛

A few months before the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, Beckham was injured during a Champions League match against Deportivo La Coruña, breaking the second metatarsal bone in his left foot. Suddenly all England fans became medical experts, and the Sun newspaper even asked people to place their hands on a front page depicting his injury, in a spiritual attempt to heal him. It must have worked, as he battled back to fitness and scored the winner in a group game against Argentina — the team he'd been sent off against at the previous World Cup. Sadly for Beckham and England, they would be eliminated in the quarterfinals against eventual champion Brazil.

距離02年韓日世界杯開幕幾個月前，小貝在歐冠聯賽與拉科魯尼亞的比賽中左腿第二跖骨骨折。頓時全英國的球迷仿佛都成了醫學專家，《太陽報》甚至組織球迷們把手放在印有小貝受傷消息的報紙上，試圖通過這樣一種阿Q式精神勝利法來治愈小貝的傷勢。這也的確起到了作用。小貝很快就傷愈回到了賽場上，并在與老冤家阿根廷的小組賽中打入了致勝球。但小貝和他的英格蘭隊仍未能逃過悲劇的命運，他們最終在1/4決賽中輸給了最后的冠軍巴西隊。