on several occasions in 1999 and under Keegan, McManaman finally broke his international goal scoring duck when he scored twice on 4 September 1999 in the 6–0 Euro 2000 qualifier victory over Luxembourg, again, at Wembley. Keegan took McManaman's new career at Madrid as a basis to reinstate his confidence in him, and handed him a coveted free role ahead of UEFA Euro 2000, stating that "in the past we compromised him ... but [following McManaman's UEFA Champions League success], we said 'we'll fit in with you, you've earned that chance'. At the time, even former coach Glenn Hoddle chimed in with support for this decision, adding that though he feared teams would not give McManaman (and the team) the space he thrived on at the tournament, he believed that finding a way to deploy McManaman effectively in a special system was difficult "but it can be done." McManaman's free role for England was shortlived as he played only once in Euro 2000, scoring the last of his three England goals in the opening game against Portugal, where he put England 2–0 ahead (with a volley off David Beckham's cross) after only 18 minutes, but got injured early in the second half whilst making a tackle on Rui Costa in midfield, forcing a tactical switch. England ended up losing the game 3–2, and McManaman would remain injured and miss the rest of the tournament as England exited at the group stage. McManaman never played another competitive match for Keegan again as he was ruled out with injury for Keegan's last couple of games before his shock resignation from the England job in October 2000. Post 2001: Omission from squad The last of McManaman's caps came in 2001 when new coach Sven-Göran Eriksson utilised him for England's first few games in the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifiers — including a game back at Anfield against Finland (where McManaman admitted before the game that he had yet to achieve significant success with England and was hungry to prove himself) and where he would go on to set up David Beckham's winner. By late 2001, however, after coming on as a substitute when England beat Germany 5–1 in the Olympiastadion, McManaman put in a display against Albania of "such apathy" according to The Guardian that the paradox of McManaman was stated as follows: "If McManaman is thought of at all in England now,