Beckham lifts England's spirits

Jubilant fans after a match that was so nearly a disaster

England's last gasp goal in the World Cup qualifier against Greece has raised the spirits of the nation, at a time when talk of terrorism and war has been hard to escape.

David Beckham's goal, giving England automatic qualification to the 2002 World Cup, sparked a flood of celebrations from the living rooms of home to the British troops on exercise in the Middle East.

England have still qualified for the finals but we've escaped a multi-million pound payout

William Hill

Downing Street sources said even the prime minister, just landed from his overseas diplomatic mission, punched the roof of his official car as the radio brought news of the 2-2 draw.

The unexpected result also delighted the bookmakers, who took a record number of bets on the day that betting tax was abolished.

But there is still no guarantee that millions of football fans will be able to watch next summer's tournament on television, as negotiations over a deal with the BBC and ITV have been deadlocked since April.

Dancing in the streets

For now, however, the fans can wallow in England's lucky escape and worship the talents of "Captain Fantastic" Beckham.

A sell-out crowd of 67,000 fans packed Old Trafford, with millions more glued to their television sets.

Celebrations in London's Trafalgar Square

As England trailed 2-1 into injury time, many despondent supporters left the ground before the final whistle.

Minutes later they were cheering and dancing when news of Beckham's late equaliser was relayed by mobile phone.

Street traders selling England flags and souvenirs were once again doing brisk business as the sporting feelgood factor kicked in.

Bill Tennant, of Walsall, described England as "the luckiest country in the world".

"We didn't deserve that. We should be hammering teams like Greece. But at least we're through," he said.

Ian Hutchinson, of Chelmsford, Essex, added: "It was very, very tense but we all loved it. We deserved to go through and we deserved the result.

"I don't think we played our best. I thought the Greeks played very well.

"But well done to Sven Goran Eriksson. He's basically done the business and he's still got our support."

Bookies' delight

The bookmakers had even greater cause to celebrate, with a record £5m placed on England beating Greece on the first day of tax-free betting in 35 years.

Graham Sharpe of William Hill said: "It's the best result we could have hoped for.

Place your bets: Few predicted a 2-2 draw

"England have still qualified for the finals but we've escaped a multi-million pound payout. Almost nobody had bet it would be a 2-2 draw."

Bookmakers Coral said England remained 7-1 third favourites for the World Cup, behind Argentina and France.

TV wrangling

But the debate about how much next year's World Cup in Japan and Korea is worth in television rights is still rumbling on.

German media company Kirch, which owns the worldwide television rights for the tournament, wants British broadcasters to pay £170m.

The BBC and ITV, which plan to cover the World Cup jointly as they have done since 1966, have offered £55m between them, saying that is 10 times what they paid in 1998.

But Kirch is refusing to give ground, calling the BBC and ITV back to the negotiating in an attempt to strike a fresh deal.

Blair celebrates

Tony Blair was in the air for most of the match, flying back from a diplomatic marathon that has seen him visit to Moscow, India and Pakistan since Thursday.

The PM landed back in the UK to hear the final minutes of the game

But he caught the last 10 minutes - including the vital Beckham strike - as he sped back to central London by car.

British troops in Oman - who may yet be called upon to take part in military action - watched the match on a big screen and celebrated with a Geri Halliwell concert.

Scotland fans were unable to share in the patriotic joy on Saturday, however, despite their team's victory.

Craig Brown quit as national coach after Scotland's failure to qualify for the 2002 World Cup finals was confirmed.

His eight-year reign ended with Scotland's 2-1 win over Latvia at Hampden Park, which saw them finish third in Group Six.