Newcastle defender Dan Byrne has quickly achieved ‘cult hero’ status within the England squad after a series of memorable cameo appearances ensured a place in the World Cup semi-finals.
Dan Byrne leaves Leo Ostigard in a heap after England’s win over Norway
Dan Byrne has revealed he sent a text message to Leo Østigaard after leaving the Norwegian defender on the mountain in Miami.
Byrne thrilled fans by outsmarting his former Brighton team-mate in a late aerial duel before stepping over the 26-year-old. Once the adrenaline subsided, the humble Newcastle centre-back began to feel unwell.
He explained: “To be honest, I was a little bit in my own world. I looked back at the video and I saw that I was playing with Leo, who was hitting a lot of headers.
“At that moment, I had no idea what I had done. I looked back and was like, ‘Oh, that wasn’t good,’ so I texted Leo afterwards and said, ‘Mate, I didn’t mean to be rude. I was just trying to keep my spirits up,’ and he was like, ‘Oh, okay, no problem.'”
“When the ball went in the air, my eyes lit up a little bit too and I just wanted to go for the ball and do my part for the team.”
Newcastle’s Toon Army love to hear their opponents chant “never” and “you can never beat Dan Byrne” to the sounds of Ultrabeat’s hit song “Pretty Green Eyes”. He doesn’t have an England song yet, but he’s fast approaching 500,000 followers on Instagram.
When asked if Byrne was aware that he was an online cult hero, he replied, “No, I’m not. I don’t use social media a lot, so I don’t watch a lot of social media, but a lot of people have sent us different videos.”
“For me, it’s just trying to help the players as much as possible and trying to have an impact on the pitch.”
Byrne played a big role in England reaching the World Cup semi-finals
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And he will be hoping to make another big impact against Argentina, the team where he first fell in love with football.
The towering 34-year-old defender sat in a bar in Florida and watched national icon David Beckham slam home the all-important winner from the penalty spot 28 years ago in Sapporo.
Now, well beyond that moment, Beckham remains in awe of Byrne’s heroic contribution to this World Cup – along with the rest of the country.
The latter recalled the 2002 scalp, when England faced their semi-final opponents, and said: “I was 10 years old. I know exactly where I was. I was on holiday, so I was in a bar called the Cricketer’s Arms in Orlando. I think it was just me and my dad, so I must have stayed up pretty late.”
“So my dad used to take us to the pub. I remember when a penalty was awarded, it was like a roar from inside. I think that’s when I fell in love with football.”
“As I said before, when he took the free kick against Greece, it was the first time I thought, ‘This is a soccer lesson.’
“It’s rare to see stars these days. When I meet people, I usually feel pretty cool, but this time I was like, ‘Damn, that’s David Beckham!'”
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