McClaren ready to swallow his pride and bring Beckham back
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McClaren ready to swallow his pride and bring Beckham back
Steve McClaren will almost certainly announce an end to David Beckham's international exile today. After a frenzied day of will-he-won't-he speculation, the indications last night were that the England coach had gradually convinced himself that Beckham's inclusion would be a valuable short-term fix for a team languishing in fourth position in their Euro 2008 qualifying group.
A call-up for Beckham is likely to divide opinion throughout the country and it has already created divisions within the Football Association, with McClaren's assistant, Terry Venables, among those thought to have reservations.
Beckham has not played for England since the World Cup and was seemingly cast aside when McClaren took over last August. However, desperate times call for desperate measures and McClaren is aware that Beckham would add to the sense of occasion when England play Brazil at Wembley on Friday and maybe provide a lift for the qualifier against Estonia five days later. In McClaren's beleaguered position he will want to exploit any feel-good factor.
Beckham would rather feel it is for football reasons. He has been in impressive form during Madrid's climb to the top of the Spanish league. McClaren has not made a personal check on him at the Bernabéu but has been monitoring his form and appears to have taken little heed of Venables' misgivings. Sources say it is an 80% chance that Beckham will return, particularly as there are doubts about the fitness of Aaron Lennon, who lasted only 10 minutes of the 3-1 win for England B against Albania in Burnley last night.
"The squad was decided in my mind but we will have to assess because of Aaron's injury," said McClaren, who may also include David Bentley, the outstanding performer at Turf Moor. The coach then made it clear he would not answer questions about Beckham. "I'm announcing my squad on Saturday. You will all find out then. But I'm not going to answer questions tonight."
Beckham's case was supported by the Madrid coach Fabio Capello, who described him as "having never been in better form in the last two years than he is now". That might seem a strange remark considering their occasionally fraught relationship but the 32-year-old has improved dramatically. "He agreed with me," said Capello. "I told him that I cannot understand how someone playing so well can be left out of his national team."
Roberto Carlos, Beckham's Madrid team-mate, was equally effusive. "I don't know all of the circumstances of why he has not played for England since the World Cup but I don't think it's because he is not good enough," said the Brazilian. "It's difficult to understand how you can not pick a player of such high quality."
McClaren will still face criticism, however, about what will be perceived by many as a retrograde step. Beckham's comeback will be of limited duration because it is almost unimaginable that he could reach the 100-cap mark - he is currently on 94 - when he is playing for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer. -
beckham??
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I very sian of Macs liao... Everytime see his news also. I will be the first to laugh if he does bring Beckham back.
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even he brings him back, is Beckham able to lift the team to greater heights ? after all he has been out from international football for a period of time.. i doubt he will be able to perform at his best ..
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the England squad is too inexperienced at the international level
bringing becks into the team would add tons of experience