Comment: No Hollywood ending for Beckham?
David Beckham: Don't write him off
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Monday, 15, Mar 2010 10:50
By Matthew Champion.
In a glittering career that has stretched from the Stretford End to Los Angeles via Madrid, David Beckham has faced his fair share of setbacks.
In 1998 he was vilified by England fans for petulant red card against Argentina as the team went out in the second round on penalties.
Four years later the foot bone metatarsal entered the national vocabulary when he broke his in April just months before the World Cup in Japan/South Korea.
In 2006, after a qualification campaign in which he became the first England captain to be sent off and the first-ever player to receive two red cards, he gave up the captaincy after a disappointing World Cup exit and was humiliatingly dropped from new England manager Steve McClaren's first squad.
Now, at the grand old age of 34, Beckham faces another crisis after a suspected torn Achilles tendon while playing for AC Milan effectively ruled him out of this summer's World Cup and put his playing career in doubt.
David Beckham World Cup heartache after Achilles injury
The former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder's Milan team-mates said Beckham was in tears when he reached the dressing room, knowing full well the implications of his injury, which can require up to eight months to recover from.
But the incidents while playing for England mentioned above show one thing; Beckham has a long track record of bouncing back, and in style, and based on this evidence there is nothing to say he will not do so again.
He was just 23 when Diego Simeone contributed towards his sending off in France 98, a tournament he had lit up with what would go on to become a trademark free-kick. In the following domestic season he ignored the catcalls he faced at every away Premier League ground and went on to win the treble with Manchester United and became a key player and later captain for the national side.
With the collective goodwill of a nation behind him he miraculously recovered, albeit not fully, from a broken metatarsal to lead his country to the World Cup in 2002, banishing some of his demons by scoring the penalty that helped knock Argentina out of the group stage.
McClaren initially earned plaudits for dropping Beckham from his first England squad but his performances for Real Madrid and later LA Galaxy convinced him to recall the midfielder to an ultimately catastrophic European Championship qualifying campaign.
2006/07 had looked like the end of Beckham's first class career, with future England manager Fabio Capello saying he would never play for Madrid again after announcing an end-of-season transfer to the Galaxy.
But Beckham's dedication and professionalism in training earned him a recall and a La Liga winners medal, and he again defied the odds while playing in the MLS to make a positive contribution to the Three Lions for Capello, under whom he earned his 100th cap.
Beckham's dream of becoming the first Englishman to play in four straight World Cups may be over, and he may have now earned the last of his 115 caps.
But the evidence suggests that it would be premature to write a player off who throughout his career has defied the odds for comeback after comeback.
When London was awarded the 2012 Olympics Beckham, an ambassador for the bid, jokingly said he would be interested in playing a part for the British football team.
Under Olympic rules teams are allowed to field three over-23 players in their squads. Beckham will be 37 by the London Games come round, but who would deny one of England's greatest players the swansong he deserves?