IT has been 18 years since England last faced Greece in a football match.
When the two sides last met, ‘Hips Don’t Lie’ by Shakira was top of the UK music charts, ‘Snakes on a Plane’ was just about to be released in cinemas and the iPhone hadn’t even been invented yet.
The England squad, unsurprisingly, also looked completely different.
‘Golden Generation’ stars Gary Neville, John Terry, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand were among the players named in the starting line-up on August 16, 2006.
It was Steve McClaren’s first match in charge of the Three Lions and he got off to a flying start with a dominant 4-0 win.
Terry, Lampard and Peter Crouch all got on the scoresheet for England on the night.
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It was a huge relief for McClaren, who raised eyebrows with his decision to drop national icon David Beckham just days prior.
Former Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson started between the sticks for England before being replaced by Chris Kirkland at half-time.
The back four was made up of Neville, captain Terry, Ferdinand and Ashley Cole.
Lampard, Stuart Downing, Owen Hargreaves and Steven Gerrard lined up in midfield.
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And former Liverpool striker Crouch partnered Jermain Defoe in attack.
Kieran Richardson, Aaron Lennon, Jamie Carragher, Darren Bent and Wayne Bridge were among the used substitutes in the friendly, while the likes of Ben Foster, Phil Neville, Michael Dawson and Jermaine Jenas remained on the bench.
Flash forward back to now, England interim boss Lee Carsley has a strong squad to pick from.
Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Harry Kane and Declan Rice are all expected to feature against Greece this week.
England will be looking to go top of Group B2 in the Nations League by the end of the international break.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
