WC Famous Five - Mark Holmes

TEAMtalk's Mark Holmes describes his Famous Five World Cup moments as we continue our weekly countdown to this summer's event in South Africa.

5 - Maradona's celebration v Greece, USA 1994: Maradona was undoubtedly the most talented player in the world at his peak but his career had gone well and truly off the rails by 1994. However, he returned to Argentina to play for Newell's Old Boys and appeared to have exorcised his demons by the time the World Cup came around. Then, in Argentina's first group game, Maradona scored a terrific goal against Greece. But it wasn't the goal I remember - it was his maniacal celebration in which he came flying at the camera, screaming with his eyes popping out of his head. Absolutely brilliant! However, it's fair to say his antics raised a few suspicions and Maradona was soon thrown out of the tournament for another failed drugs test. What a way to go! 4 - Ilunga Mwepu's 'tactics' to stop Brazil, Germany 1974: This was well before my time, but I saw the footage many years ago and it's something that always stuck in my mind. Ilunga was playing for Zaire, the first-ever sub-Saharan African side to qualify for the World Cup finals, so it's fair to say there was a bit of interest in how they'd get on. Scotland (2-0) and Yugoslavia (9-0) had already seen off the minnows and far worse was expected when they took on Brazil. However, Zaire right-back Ilunga had a novel way of stopping the world champions and his efforts will forever be remembered. Brazil, already 3-0 ahead, were awarded a free-kick 30 yards from goal and as the referee blew his whistle, Ilunga rushed out of the wall to boot the ball upfield before Brazil had the chance to take it! But what was even funnier was Ilunga's reaction to his yellow card. He genuinely did not know what he had done wrong! World Cup gold. 3 - Zinedine Zidane masterclass v Brazil, France 1998: Zidane had been steadily working his way towards greatness for a few years and a World Cup final, against the famous Brazil, gave him the perfect stage to shine on. I must confess (I'm not a lover of Italian football - Zizou was at Juve) that I'd not seen a great deal of him going into the tournament so I was excited to see if he'd live up to his hype. And boy did he. While Ronaldo was spluttering around the pitch like a banged-out Morris Minor, Zidane strolled around it like a brand new Bentley. He was just a joy to watch that night and his two goals, both headers, were just reward for a truly magnificent performance. I fell in love with a player that night. 2 - Bebeto's 'baby' celebration, USA 1994: I was only six in 1990 so this World Cup was the first one I really got into and watched every evening. Maradona, Roberto Baggio and the Irish had all got my attention, but it was Brazil that kept it. I'd never seen a team play football like them before - bear in mind I'm a Stoke fan - and was just mesmerised by them. They completely ripped teams to shreds with their fluent, attacking football and they always seemed to play with smiles on their faces. And that special character they had was no more evident than after Bebeto's goal in the quarter-final against Holland. His wife had given birth a few days previously so, after putting Brazil 2-0 up, Bebeto ran to the touchline to rock an imaginary baby. He was soon joined by two of his team-mates and the most copied celebration ever was seen for the first time. I spent the rest of the summer in a new Brazil shirt paying homage to it myself. 1 - David Beckham's penalty v Argentina, South Korea and Japan 2002: England had drawn their opening group game against Sweden so a defeat to the old enemy Argentina would have been disastrous in the next match. There was plenty of history between the two sides after England's painful quarter-final defeat in 1998, and one player in particular had a point to prove. Beckham was famously sent off for a petulant kick at Diego Simeone in France and he was clearly out to get even. So when Michael Owen was brought down just before half-time in Sapporo, there was only ever going to be one man stepping up. It's one of the single biggest pieces of bravery I've ever seen from an England player and I vividly remember crouching in front of the TV willing him to score. Beckham raced up to the ball and smashed it emphatically into the middle of the net - and the whole nation went mental. Becks looked like he'd won us the World Cup and it actually felt like it for the rest of that day. We held on for a 1-0 win, sent the Argies packing and marched on with the genuine belief we could win the whole thing. We didn't of course, but Beckham had given us hope.