A tale of two very different red cards

Not all kicks resulting in red cards are created equal.

Just ask David Beckham.

He was supposed to be so over, so done, landing deep in national infamy after getting ejected for a retaliatory kick against Diego Simeone. The Daily Mirror blared with this clever headline: “10 Heroic Lions, One Stupid Boy.”

That, of course, was when England lost to Argentina, on penalties, in the World Cup in France.

In 1998.

One Stupid Boy has vanished into the ether, about five or six incarnations ago.

In some ways, it will be far simpler for Wayne Rooney to recover from his gaffe Friday in a European qualifier for England, a 2-2 tie against host Montenegro. Rooney already was dealing with serious issues after family members were arrested in an alleged betting scam earlier in the week.

His miserable October continued when he was shown the red card after kicking at defender Miodrag Dzudovic, a 32-year-old who plays for PFC Spartak, with about 17 minutes to play.

Coach Fabio Capello called it a “silly mistake.” Still, the team moves on, joining Spain, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands in qualifying for next year’s European Championships. (Co-hosts Ukraine and Poland are in.)

Veteran soccer reporter Oliver Holt of the Daily Mirror wrote of Rooney’s blunder: “If we’re not careful, this is where the screaming starts.”

Beckham’s crime was that his infraction came in the highly charged World Cup, a time, and particular year, in which national hopes were insanely elevated.

The current problem is that Rooney, the tabloid pinata, is the anti-Becks in nearly every way.

Bottom line: Rooney’s miscue did not prevent England from moving forward.

Future line: His sanction will force him to sit out at least one game in Euro 2012 in June, possibly more than that, raising questions about his potential liability when taking into account his checkered past on the field.

Let the screaming begin.

On the brink

In other qualifying matches, Sweden moved a step closer to reaching Euro 2012, which it would have to do through a playoff, by beating Finland, 2-1, at Helsinki on Friday.

Finland was outscored, 7-1, in its two Euro group qualifying games against Sweden and has never managed to make a World Cup or European Championship field. The neighboring nations have played 85 times with Sweden, a third-place finisher in the 1994 World Cup, winning 65 games, losing nine and tying 11.

In remembrance

Finally, a moment of appreciation for the late Sven Tumba, who died Oct. 1 at 80. Tumba was a three-sport star, playing for the Swedish national soccer team in the mid-1950s. He appeared in four Winter Olympics with the Swedish hockey team and became an avid golfer and course designer, helping bring the game to the former Soviet Union.

“Golf is not a sport, it’s a disease,” he said to the Swedish media.

He probably could have said the same thing about soccer or hockey.

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

twitter.com/reallisa