On This Day – 8th October
David Beckham became the first England player to ever be sent off twice on this day back in 2005, after receiving a red card against Austria in a World Cup qualifier.
The sending-off was after he was given two yellow cards in a short space of time around the 57th-minute mark. They were given for fouls on the same player, Andreas Ibertsberger.
England won the game 1-0 thanks to a penalty from Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard. The victory meant that they qualified for the following year’s World Cup after Holland beat the Czech Republic later that evening.
Beckham’s first red card for England was one of the most famous moments in the history of the English national team. It occurred in the Second Round match against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup. That time it was a straight red card for a petulant kick at Argentine Diego Simeone and was widely-regarded as the defining moment in his career.
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