David Beckham’s England Career (1996-2010)

August 12th, 2010 | by: Rob | View Comments

So, as you will have heard elsewhere, its all over for David Beckham in an England shirt. Probably. A slightly cack-handed statement from Fabio Capello suggested that the former Captain was probably a bit too old. Which is true, and we should be moving on. But first its worth pausing and noting what a magnificent ambassador he’s been for English football.

As Daryl notes here, he was always there to be called upon, and playing for England genuinely meant more to him than all else. He always put in 100%, and sometimes that 100% dug us out of a hole (see below).

It was weirdly handled by Fabio. He used to be so positively strong (or seemed to), which was absolutely not true in the oddly panicked build up to South Africa, and this seemed like a weird way of trying to get it back, except it just seemed weird.

He is, however, 35 years old, and he should be moving on, and so should we. I do think, if fit, he could have done a job for us in the World Cup (how we needed his energy at times, especially in the group stage), but it is the right time to call it a day. But first, here is the Good, the Bad and the Weird of his England career.

Glenn Hoddle first called up David Beckham for a France 98 qualifier waaaay back in September 1996. This was just a month after the life-changing half-way line goal that made the whole country (Spice girls included) take notice of him. Had he not banged that it, his career would surely have been slightly different, which is odd to think about a goal which came at the end of the game that was already one. But it was quite good.

He played a part in all the qualifiers, but Glenn Hoddle had a trademark wobble before the World Cup and decided not to start with Beckham or our other great young hope, Owen. He did get to play in the final group game, against Columbia and scored a stunning Free-kick.

And so he started the next round match against Argentina – one of the best games England have been involved in, in my lifetime. Obviously this one didn’t end quite as well, for Beckham or for England, as Beckham famously got sent off for a rubbish kick out at Diego Simeone, and England crashed out to due to David Batty’s penalty taking skills/the ref disallowing Sol Campbell’s goal/Glenn Hoddle’s faith healer/diary/Beckham’s sending off/Argentina being better* *delete scapegoats as appropriate. Then came the laughable “Ten Brave Lions, One Stupid Boy” nonsense, (thanks the Daily Mirror) where Beckham became a scapegoat for all that was wrong with English football. This led to him giving England fans the finger after a particularly abusive game with Portugal (in the entirely forgettable Euro 2000). He’d entered a golden patch of his career, both for club and country, winning the treble at Man United, and producing heroic performances that would see him made England Captain.

There was the 5-1 against Germany, in which he certainly played his part, but of course what stands out most with Beckham is the match against Greece, where we needed a point to qualify and were not going to get it, despite the fact Beckham was all over the park chasing down every Greek player constantly. He had been having a stinking game from Free-kicks though (I was watching with a Liverpool fan, and before the final Free-kick, he suggested giving the Free-kick to Gerrard as Beckham had wasted a few already) and yet in the last minute, managed to put one in the net so that we qualified for Japan and South Korea, ahead of eventual finalists Germany.

He of course went into that World Cup under a cloud after having broken his Metatarsal in a Champions League match. He wasn’t really fit, but he did get some revenge by scoring a penalty against Argentina, in one my favourite memories as an Engalnd supporter. It was a rubbish penalty, but who cares, he was exonerated for 1998, and we got a brilliant win. (Michael Owen also dived to win the penalty, but lets not dwell on that either)

We then took on Brazil, and I genuinely still believe were it not for Ronaldinho’s absolute genius/luck (delete as you see fit, I like to think he meant it), we would have won that game, and the World Cup. We had gone 1-0 up, but Brazil had pulled one back after Becks got out the way of a tackle, possibly still worried about his foot.

He had a bit of a rubbish Euro 2004, by now overshadowed by the (then loved by England fans) rise of Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard. He missed a penalty in England’s loss to France (which should easily have been a win, but we chucked it away in the last few minutes) and then again against Portugal (in another of the greatest games England have ever been involved in).

In 2005 he became the first player to be sent off for England twice, and by 2006 the whole Sven-era felt a bit tired (although, World Cup Quarter-Final looks nice now, eh?). Two assists against Trinidad and Tobago and a goal against Ecuador (making him the first Englishman to score at three different World Cups) meant this was probably his finest World Cup in an England shirt though.

He cried as he couldn’t play the whole game against Portugal (a comparatively drab affair) and stepped down as England Captain after the tournament. Sven was sacked and his successor, Steve McLaren decided it would be a good idea to try and distance himself from the Eriksson era completely by dropping Beckham (a perceived Sven favourite) altogether.

Eventually McLaren saw the error of his ways, and Becks nearly saved us in the horrible night against Croatia, but there was to be no repeat of the game against Greece and England stayed home.

Capello seemed pretty unsure about what to do about Beckham, having had previous with him at Real Madrid, but did pick him, mainly it seemed to get Beckham some more caps, as he consistently played 20 minutes of England games.

Presumably would have gone to South Africa but got injured so went as a sort of coach/cheerleader/mascot. And now Fabio has waved goodbye forever.

Its been up and down, certainly, but he has, in the end, been one of the great England players. The time has come, for sure, but its been good while its lasted. Cheers David.