Graham Arnold reveals Beckham's FURIOUS reaction when Australia stunned England
Graham Arnold has opened up on the insult that spurred the Socceroos onto a shock victory over England that left David Beckham fuming.
Australia return to London for the first time since stunning Sven-Goran Eriksson's Three Lions, with the underdogs running out 3-1 winners at Upton Park.
Arnold was assistant coach at the time and revealed how pre-match comments made by Eriksson enraged the visitors in east London.
'I remember reading the newspaper the day before, where Sven came out and said 'I'm going to change the whole team at half-time',' Arnold told The Times.
'That p***ed our players off. "Who the hell does he think he is? Does he think we're s***?" We grew the narrative as coaches, "look, they have no respect for us." The Aussie mentality kicked in.
'We had some top players. Our Golden Generation. You look back at that generation, you didn't have to motivate them too much. Harry [Kewell] was quiet but he had this incredibly strong mentality. There was no way we were going to lose that game, especially the mentality of Viduka and these guys.'
The Aussies went 2-0 up in the first half thanks to a Tony Popovic header and a strike from Harry Kewell, and Arnold recalls how a livid Beckham demanded to stay on the pitch.
'We walked up the tunnel and all you could hear was [Beckham] going to Sven, "we're not f***ing coming off. We can't be down to 2-0 at half-time and come off." Sven still changed the whole team.'
The Aussies, meanwhile, had their own plan to stay ahead. 'Kevin Muscat came on to make sure things didn't calm down!'
Arnold cemented himself as a national hero during Australia's miracle World Cup campaign in Qatar last year, where he took the Socceroos to the last-16. Respected French sports publication L'Equipe
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