ENGLAND

Beckham quits as England captain.

David Beckham resigned as England captain following the team's quarter-final defeat to Portugal in the World Cup. Reading out a prepared statement, Beckham said:

"On 15 November 2000 Peter Taylor gave me the greatest honour of my career in making me the captain of England, fulfilling my childhood dream.

"It has been an honour and a privilege to have captained our country and I want to stress that I wish to continue to play for England and look forward to helping both the new captain and Steve McClaren in any way I can."

He said: "I came to this decision some time ago but I had hoped to announce it on the back of a successful World Cup. Sadly that wasn't to be.

"This decision has been the most difficult of my career to date. But after discussing it with my family and those closest to me I feel the time is right.

"Our performance during this World Cup has not been enough to progress further and both myself and all the players regret that and are hurt by that more than people realise.

"I wish to thank all the players for their support during my time as captain, as well as Peter Taylor, Sven and all the coaches.

"I would also like to thank the press and, of course, all the England supporters who have both been great to me and my team-mates. I want them to know for me it has been an absolute honour.

"Finally, I have lived the dream, I am extremely proud to have worn the armband and been captain of England and for that I will always be grateful."

Beckham's resignation letter

It was a poor World Cup for England. Sven's new formation didn't work. Anyone watching the last three games could see that it wasn't working. England were knocked out of the World Cup at the quarter-final stage, losing 3-1 in a penalty shoot-out to Portugal having drawn 0-0 after 120 minutes. England striker Wayne Rooney was sent off with a straight red card in the World Cup quarter-final defeat by Portugal. Rooney was sent off after a 62nd minute foul on Ricardo Carvalho and a confrontation with club team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo. Carvalho reacted dramatically and Cristiano Ronaldo sprinted to the referee, apparently to demand a red card. TV cameras captured Cristiano Ronaldo winking at his bench as Rooney walked off the pitch.

"I complained to the referee about the foul but I didn't ask for a red card," the Portugal winger said after the match.

England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson departs after five-and-a-half years with England.

Alan Hansen
BBC Sport football expert and Match of the Day summariser

You have got to feel sorry for the players who had the bottle to take the penalties, and then you have to praise the players who stood up and held Portugal out during the match.

But the decision by the manager to play one up front was absolute folly. The system never looked like working. Everyone will question the manager now and rightly so.

Whenever the English players go to any tournament they will always want to play a system that they know and are comfortable with. And they didn't have that.

I think the manager has contributed to England's downfall. He never got the shape or balance of the team right.

You look at the line-up and look at the players and you have got to wonder why they have played so badly.

And why did Sven take that little baby Theo for? A player he had never seen in action.

Theo Walcott

World Cup History

No other sporting event captures the world's imagination like the World Cup.



2006 Germany
Final: Italy 1 France 1 (Italy win 5-3 on penalties)
Top Scorer: Miroslav Klose (Germany) -- 5 goals


2002 Japan/South Korea
Final: Brazil 2 Germany 0
Top Scorer: Ronaldo (Brazil) -- 8 goals


1998 France
Final: France 3 Brazil 0
Top Scorer: Davor Suker (Croatia) -- 6 goals


1994 United States
Final: Brazil 0 Italy 0 (Brazil win 3-2 on penalties)
Top Scorer: Hristo Stoichkov (Bulgaria), Oleg Salenko (Russia) -- 6 goals



1990 Italy
Final: West Germany 1 Argentina 0
Top Scorer: Salvatore Schillaci (Italy) -- 6 goals


1986 Mexico
Final: Argentina 3 West Germany 2
Top Scorer: Gary Lineker (England) -- 6 goals


1982 Spain
Final: Italy 3 West Germany 1
Top Scorer: Paolo Rossi (Italy) -- 6 goals


1978 Argentina
Final: Argentina 3 Netherlands 1
Top Scorer: Mario Kempes -- 6 goals


1974 West Germany
Final: West Germany 2 Netherlands 1
Top Scorer: Gregorz Lato (Poland) -- 7 goals


1970 Mexico
Final: Brazil 4 Italy 1
Top Scorer: Gerd Muller (West Germany) -- 10 goals


1966 England
Final: England 4 West Germany 2
Top Scorer: Eusebio (Portugal) -- 9 goals


1962 Chile
Final: Brazil 3 Czechoslovakia 1
Top Scorer: Florian Albert (Hungary), Valentin Ivanov (Soviet Union), Drazen Jerkovic (Yugoslavia), Leonel Sanchez (Chile), Vava (Brazil, Garrincha (Brazil) -- 4 goals.


1958 Sweden
Final: Brazil 5 Sweden 2
Top Scorer: Just Fontaine (France) -- 13 goals


1954 Switzerland
Final: West Germany 3 Hungary 2
Top Scorer: Sandor Kocsis (Hungary) -- 11 goals


1950 Brazil
Final Match: Uruguay 2 Brazil 1
Top Scorer: Ademir (Brazil) -- 9 goals


1938 France
Final: Italy 4 Hungary 2
Top Scorer: Leonidas (Brazil) -- 8 goals


1934 Italy
Final: Italy 2 Czechoslovkia 1
Top Scorer: Oldrich Nejedly (Czechoslovakia), Edmund Conen (Germany), Angelo Schaivo (Italy) -- 4 goals


1930 Uruguay
Final: Uruguay 4 Argentina 2
Top Scorer: Guillermo Stabile (Argentina) -- 8 goals



SOME FACTS (Posted in 2006)

# The first ever international football match was played between England and Scotland in 1872.

# The inaugural World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930. In total 13 nations competed in the event which was won by the host nation.

# In total, 207 nations have competed to qualify for the World Cup Finals and 78 countries have qualified at least once. Of these, only eleven have made it to the Grand Final.

# The World Cup was cancelled in 1942 and 1946 due to World War II.

# Brazil is the most successful nation overall, having won the tournament five times in total, as well as having finished as runners-up twice.

# Brazil are also the only nation to have participated in every World Cup.

# Of the seven nations that have won the World Cup, six have done so on their home soil.

# The largest margin of victory in a World Cup match occurred in 1982 when Hungary defeated El Salvador 10-1.

# The fastest goal in a World Cup match took place in 2002, when Hakan Suker scored for Turkey after 11 seconds against South Korea.

# The record number of goals by a player in one tournament is 13. This was achieved by Frenchman Just Fontaine in 1958.

# The oldest player to score a World Cup goal is Roger Milla from Cameroon. He was 42 years and 39 days at the time.

# The former captain of Germany, Lothar Matthäus, holds the record for the most World Cup match appearances. He represented his country 25 times.

# The first ever World Cup mascot was unveiled at the 1966 tournament in England. The mascot design usually represents a distinguishing feature of the host country. At this year's tournament it will be a lion wearing a German jersey with the number 06 on it.

 

Team Records
Brazil holds the most World Cup championships with five and Italy and West Germany/Germany are tied with three World Cup titles. Hungary has tallied the most goals in a single World Cup when they scored 27 in 1954. In the 1954 World Cup Austria beat Switzerland 7-5 for the most goals (12) combined in a World Cup match. Hungary beat El Salvador in 1982, 10-1 for the highest goal differential in a World Cup match (Hungary is also the only team to score 10 or more goals in a World Cup).
 

Individual Records
Gerard Muller is the top scorer in World Cup history with 14 goals. Salenko of Russia scored 5 goals in a match during the 1994 World Cup. Guillermo Stabile of Argentina was the first player to ever record a hat trick (1930 World Cup). Hakan Sukur of Turkey scored the fastest goal in World Cup history in 2002 when he scored 11 seconds into the match against South Korea. Lothar Matthaus of Germany / West Germany has the most appearances by a player in the World Cup with 25. Norman Whiteside of Northern Ireland was the youngest player (17 years old) to ever step on the field in World Cup (1982). Pelé of Brazil was also the youngest player to score in a World Cup (1958) match. Pelé also was the youngest player to ever win a World Cup (1958). Roger Milla of Cameroon was the oldest (42 years, 39 days) player to play in a World Cup (1994). Milla also scored a goal in that match against Russia. The first player to ever be ejected from a World Cup match was Galindo of Peru in 1930.
 

World Cup Records
The 1994 World Cup held in the United States had the highest average attendance with over 68,990 for each match. The 1950 World Cup Final (Uruguay vs. Brazil) had over 174,000 spectators for the largest number of spectators to watch a final. The 1954 World Cup held in Switzerland holds the highest average for goals per game 5.38 (140 goals in 26 matches).