On This Day: Beckham reached 100th England cap; Paisley won last trophy for Reds

Hi all, welcome to All Football's On This Day! Let's find out what happened today (March 26th) in football history. If you have more stories and news that happened on this day in history, feel free to post them in the comment area and share them with AFers!

On This Day in 2008 - Beckham Hits One Hundred

On 26 March 2008, 32-year old David Beckham reached his 100th cap when he started for England in a friendly against France.

It was milestone that Beckham looked unlikely to reach after England's elimination from the 2006 World Cup. Following their loss to Portugal in quarterfinals, Beckham's 94th international appearance, he resigned as England's captain. Although he expressed a desire to continue with the side in a subservient role, he was dropped altogether by new England boss Steve McClaren. A poor run of form changed McClaren's mind and he recalled Beckham to the national squad in May 2007.

Beckham performed well, but it was not enough to save McClaren's job - he was soon sacked in favor of Beckham's former Real Madrid boss, Fabio Capello. With Beckham sitting on 99 caps, he was not included in Capello's first match in charge, a friendly against Switzerland on 6 February 2008. The decision created speculation that Capello's English side had no place for Beckham, but Beckham was included for Capello's second match in charge - the friendly against France.

The match itself had mixed results for England. France controlled the pace and flow, creating far more scoring chances than the visitors. To their credit, though, the English defense was stout, repeatedly denying the French attack. The match's only goal came from the spot, as Nicolas Anelka drew a foul from his Chelsea teammate John Terry. Franck Ribéry buried the ensuing kick in the 32nd minute.

On This Day in 1983 - A Final Cup For Paisley's Cupboard

On 26 March 1983, Bob Paisley, Liverpool's most decorated manager, won his last major cup, beating Manchester United in the League Cup Final, 2-1.

Paisley spent his entire professional career at Liverpool, playing there from 1939 to 1954, then joining the coaching staff. When manager Bill Shankly retired in 1974, Paisley took charge and proceeded to win an astounding club-record 20 major trophies, including six league titles and three European Cups. The 1982-83 season was his last at Anfield and he went out in style, winning his last two pieces of silverware.

The first of the two was the League Cup, his final tournament trophy. Playing before a crowd of 99,304, Liverpool faced Manchester United and quickly fell behind after United forward and captain Norman Whiteside scored in the 12th minute. They were still trailing deep into the second half until left back Alan Kennedy equalized in the 75th minute.

Still level at 1-1 after 90 minutes, the match went into extra time, where Liverpool midfielder Ronnie Whelan scored in the 98th minute. It proved to be the match-winner, giving the Reds a 2-1 victory.

Liverpool went on to give Paisley his final trophy by winning the league that season, finishing eleven points clear of runners-up Watford.

On This Day in 1986 - Scotland's Only Centurion

On 26 March 1986, Liverpool striker Kenny Dalglish won his 100th cap for Scotland in a 3-0 win over Romania. To date, he is the only player to reach that milestone for the Scottish national team.

He received his first call-up in November 1971, coming on as a substitute in a Euro '72 qualifying victory over Belgium. Although it took him over a year to get his first goal, he eventually scored 30 times for Scotland to match the record set by Denis Law.

Against Romania, manager Alex Ferguson gave the armband Dalglish, his seventh and last time to captain the national team. Scotland's starting XI included nine future managers, including two--Dalglish and midfielder Graeme Souness--who went on to take charge of Liverpool. Dalglish also managed Celtic during his career, as did another teammate of his that day, midfielder Gordon Strachan.

Strachan opened the day's scoring in the 18th minute and was followed shortly by defender Richard Gough (27'). Gough's partner in defense, Roy Aitken, added the third in the 81st minute, his only goal in 57 appearances for Scotland.

Dalglish, meanwhile, went on to earn two more Scottish caps before retiring from the national team later that year.

On This Day in 1982 - Former Arsenal Captain Arteta was Born

Spanish professional football coach and former Arsenal captain Mikel Arteta Amatriain was born 26 March 1982.

Arteta began his football career as a youth graduate at Barcelona in 1999, but an inability to appear for the senior side, despite a successful period on loan at PSG, led him to depart and relocate to Scotland to join Rangers in 2002. He moved back to Spain to join hometown club Real Sociedad for €5.2 million. However, sparse playing time forced him to move to Everton on an initial loan in 2005, which was later made permanent for a fee of £2 million (€2.2 million) later that year.

In England, Arteta blossomed as a direct, attacking midfielder, gaining plaudits for his potent creativity and passing range. He contributed largely to Everton's attacking play throughout the 2000s, as he helped the club regularly challenge for European competition. However, silverware was limited in Merseyside, and Arteta's performances attracted fellow league side Arsenal, and he ultimately moved to the club for a fee of £10 million (€12 million) in 2011. Under the tutelage of coach  Wenger, Arteta gradually moved into a deeper role, where his anticipation, distribution and defensive output helped the club end their nine-year trophy drought, winning two FA Cups and two FA Community Shield titles. He also served as club captain prior to retiring in 2016.

On This Day in 2008 - The Mighty Minnows Of Malta

On 26 March 2008, Malta secured their record win, beating Liechtenstein 7-1 with 5 goals from Michael Mifsud.

Ever since their first match, a 2-3 loss to Austria in 1957, Malta struggled to find wins, failing to qualify for a single World Cup or European Championship. Losses were easy to come by, however, including crushing defeats to Spain (12-1 in 1983), Austria (9-0 in 1977), the Netherlands (8-0 in 1990), and Germany (7-0) in 2004).

They had met Liechtenstein only once before, playing to a 1-1 home draw in 1981. So, even though their matches starting getting more competitive in the 2000s, their dominating performance in the 2008 friendly came as a surprise.

Playing at the Ta' Qali national Stadium in the center of Malta, Mifsud (pictured)--a striker who played his club ball for Coventry City--scored the opening goal in the second minute with a penalty. He completed a hat-trick within the first 21 minutes, with his third goal also coming from the spot--the foul prompting the second penalty kick led to a red card for Liechtenstein's Fabio d'Elia for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity. Helped by the man advantage, Malta were up 4-0 by the break.

Franz Burgmeier closed the gap to 4-1 in the 51st minute, but Mifsud scored twice more (60', 69') to extend the lead. It was the first time any Maltese player scored five times in an international. A final Malta goal four minutes from time ended the day at 7-1.