ROO GOES DOWN IN HISTORY
Rooney 53 Beckham 61 (pen) Euro 2004 qualifier, Sept 6, 2003 Gradski Stadion, Skopje Att: 20,500 BY MATT BOZEAT WAYNE ROONEY could not even celebrate his first goal for England with a pint.
At 17 years and 317 days old, he was too young to get served.
Rooney had gone into the record books as the youngest player to ever wear Three Lions on his chest when, aged just 17 years, 111 days he made his England debut against Australia at Upton Park in February 2003.
He drew a blank in the shock 3-1 reverse, but, while England’s scorer Francis Jeffers never played for his country again, Rooney went on to make more history seven months later in North Macedonia.
England headed to Skopje having won their six previous matches and hoping to take a huge step closer to qualification for Euro 2004.
North Macedonia promised to be no pushovers, having held England to a 2-2 draw in Southampton earlier in the qualifying stages, a match that marked the end of David Seaman’s career after he let Artim Sakiri score direct from a corner.
David James had replaced Seaman between the posts and was picking the ball out of the net after 26 minutes.
Vlatko Grozdanovski’s cross found Georgi Hristov at the far post.
Hristov, the former Barnsley striker who had missed the match at St Mary’s Stadium 11 months earlier, squeezed his shot into the net.
That goal separated the sides at half time – and Sven-goran Eriksson made changes.
Rooney had struggled in the opening 45 minutes, but Eriksson stuck with him and, instead, brought on Emile Heskey for Frank Lampard. It proved to be a good move. David Beckham, who had been hampered by a groin injury in the build-up, aimed a chip towards Heskey on the edge of the box and his header bounced to Rooney.
The Everton striker rifled his shot under keeper Petar Miloshevski, a goal that meant he replaced Michael Owen (18 years, 59 days) as the youngest player to score for England.
The Three Lions went ahead on 61 minutes after John Terry was tripped by substitute Braga Aguinaldo De Zeus for a penalty.
And Beckham sent Miloshevski the wrong way for the winner.