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It was early January at the start of the new millennium and normally Manchester United would have been training in sub-zero temperatures while preparing for an FA Cup third-round tie. Instead, they were in Brazil at the height of summer for the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup, then known as the Club World Championship.
Teddy Sheringham was diving headfirst into the sea; Gary Neville was playing beach volleyball with locals on the Copacabana; Mark Bosnich was acting out a mock medal celebration to wind up Dwight Yorke and Jaap Stam after beating them in a swimming race.
Phil Neville had insisted to fans at the team hotel that "we're not on holiday", but it certainly seemed like it to the Brazilian press, who asked Sir Alex Ferguson whether his team were taking the tournament seriously enough. "You've got the wrong impression if you think that," he retorted. Later on during his side's stay, Ferguson looked up from outside the team hotel to see his midfielder Nicky Butt flying above him on a hang glider.
The British media corps were even more appalled at the holiday vibes as United had taken the unthinkable decision to not participate in the FA Cup at all so as to be in South America. And so while United will not be partaking in this year's reimagined Club World Cup in the United States, their doomed venture in FIFA's very first edition of the tournament back in 2000 remains seared into the memory of the club, albeit for the wrong reasons...