David Beckham's sons got a big World Cup disappointment

Maybe David Beckham should have kept with tradition and rooted against Argentina.

The former captain of England's soccer team took his sons to their first World Cup final in Rio de Janiero this Sunday. All three — Brooklyn (eldest), Romeo and Cruz (the youngest) — plus smiling dad were rooting for Argentina, wearing the blue and white colors of Argentine star Lionel Messi in a photo posted to Beckham's public Facebook page.

The post by Beckham — entitled "Me and the boys at our first ever World Cup Final, great day!" — got over 31,000 shares within six hours after it was published.

The photo was posted after the game ended with a 1-0 win to Germany, suggesting the aching disappointment that sparked a riot in Buenos Aires did not carry over to the sunny Beckham clan.

David Beckham is better known to some Americans for an underwear modeling career and the Major League Soccer years that followed his initial departure from top-drawer European soccer, when he moved to Los Angeles with his wife Victoria, —"Posh" from the Spice Girls.

Still, for those Americans who tuned into the World Cup years before it reached its current state of moderate popularity, Beckham was also the face of English soccer. He was hard-working and usually even-tempered. And it was the low point of his career, notes The Independent, when he was sent off the pitch during England's match against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup in France. His forced exit from that match effectively ended England's chances in the championship, prompting some England fans to burn his image in effigy.

Time, apparently, eases the pain.