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| June 9, 2002 | Sunday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 27,1423 |
English media has field day
LONDON, June 8: Huge photographs of captain David Beckham adorned every newspaper and British headline writers had a field day on Saturday after England’s 1-0 “Svengeance” victory over Argentina.
“Up Yours Senors” was the front page offering from the mass circulation Sun tabloid, reflecting the bitter rivalry between the teams that goes back decades.
“YEEEEEESS!!” screamed the rival Mirror daily.
Just four years ago they were vilifying Beckham after he was sent off in the teams’ last World Cup clash, won by the South Americans on penalties.
This time, the papers were unanimous in their glowing praise for the England captain’s winning penalty.
There was little sympathy for the opposition.
The Mirror’s back page had a framed photograph of dejected Argentinian striker Gabriel Batistuta after he had been substituted. With it went the lines:
“Don’t cry for poor Argentina. The truth is we never loved you,” paraphrasing a lyric from the musical Evita.
The broadsheets were barely more restrained.
“Beckham puts the world to rights,” was the Times page one lead story.
“He shoots. He scores. And England avenge 16 years of hurt,” said the Independent, referring to the 1986 “Hand of God” match won by the skill of Argentina’s Diego Maradona.
England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson emerged from the game with his reputation enhanced, summed up by the Mirror as:
“Svengeance!”
“Up yours Senors — Becks’ Argie revenge”, was the rather crude headline on the front page of Britain’s biggest daily The Sun, while in praise to England Beckham, “Foot of God, Becks ends four years of hurt”, was the message on the back.
“Payback” was how The Daily Telegraph summed up events.
Memories of battle resurfaced in the Daily Star, whose headline read “Gotcha”, identical to that of The Sun 20 years ago, following the sinking of the flagship Argentine cruiser General Belgrano with the loss of more than 300 sailors.
“Of course we are not sure of going through to the next round,” cautioned the Mirror. “But what we have now is hope based on performance. If the team played so well against Argentina, one of the best sides in the competition, there is no real obstacle to going all the way,” it added.
Opinion shared by The Times. “Just as stock prices can only go up, (a reference to the sharp fall in shares here in recent days) only England has the talent and determination to win the World Cup.”—Reuters/AFP
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