Such is the length of time elapsed since David Beckham captained a winning team that the player who wears his country's armband with such pride cannot quite remember the identity of the opposition.
"Let me think," he mused, desperately attempting to recall Manchester United's rivals on the day the club's Under 15s lifted Northern Ireland's Milk Cup. "It's a long time since I was presented with a trophy," he added, his failing memory emphasising the point. "To do that with England would top it all off for me as a professional footballer."
Fourteen years ago, anything and everything seemed possible for the precocious young talent at the heart of Sir Alex Ferguson's golden generation. And although success at club level, until this season's difficult first campaign at the Bernebeu, has allowed Beckham to fulfil his teenage potential, the 29-year-old has endured his fair share of failure with England.
The disgrace of that petulant World Cup 98 dismissal, and the frustration which almost boiled over during an injury-plagued month in Japan and South Korea four years later, still hangs over a player mentally tired by previous tournaments.
But one championship in particular provides Beckham with the inspiration to succeed in Portugal; it is clear a catastrophic Euro 2000 campaign is the driving force behind the most talented English midfielder of his generation.
"After the defeat against Romania four years ago it was very tough," he said. "I remember how the dressing room was a depressing place to be and I wouldn't want to go through that again. Nobody wants to walk into a dressing room when you've just been knocked out of a major tournament." Having bounced back from defeat against Portugal - England lost 3-2 despite leading 2-0 - with a fine victory against old rivals Germany, Beckham and Co were tipped to cruise past Romania and seal their quarter-final place. Four years on and memories have dimmed. Once again England are red-hot favourites to progress from their group despite the fact that defeat against Croatia would mean yet another early exit. "We'd already suffered a fair amount of frustration after throwing away the Portugal game," said Beckham.
"So when you lose a game like the Romania match, especially after we had just beaten the Germans for the first time in a long time, it's difficult.
"I don't know if we became complacent. It wasn't a pleasant memory and I wouldn't want another like that.
"That's why we have to make sure we don't relax with Croatia coming up. When the game was at 2-2 I didn't expect it to slip from our grasp.
"We were so confident after the Germany game, but that confidence was suddenly knocked out of us. We just have to make sure what happened against Romania doesn't happen again. There can be no excuses." Excuses, of course, are part and parcel of football. Winners and losers alike simply love to fall back on both familiar and unfamiliar reasons for poor performances or unexpected results.
In Portugal the unseasonable warmth has been the excuse of the moment and England's lacklustre display against the Swiss last Thursday guaranteed a heated debate. Beckham, as is the wont of his fellow countrymen, will never tire of talking about the weather and it will come as no surprise to learn that this evening's later kick-off against Croatia is guaranteed to produce a better game of football.
"There's an unbelievable difference in the conditions when you kick off at 5pm," said a player familiar with 9.45pm starts in Spain's laid back La Liga. "All the players went out to warm up before the Switzerland game and we couldn't actually believe how hot it was.
"Playing in that sort of heat is very, very hard. It was a tough, tough game. I'm sure it affected our performance.
"I think our supporters will see harder running and better football against Croatia thanks to the later kick-off time.
"For me, as a midfielder, it was particularly difficult in Coimbra. For all four of us across the middle it was tough - we just couldn't do the running we normally do or wanted to do." For all the sense of anti-climax which followed a performance far removed from England's opening Group B display against France, Thursday's three-goal winning margin was emphatic.
"We wanted to get some points on the board and that's what this team is like," said Beckham.
"We won't become complacent and take our foot off the pedal. But we also have young players who just want to go out there and enjoy Euro 2004 like they did when they were 10-year-olds playing in the park. There's a healthy mix of old and new.
"We're not underestimating Croatia, but our fans will feel we should beat them. And we should."
But England should have beaten Romania four years ago. And they didn't.
