From The Sunday Times

November 4, 2007
England recall for Beckham

Joe Lovejoy

David Beckham will be restored to the England squad next Friday and is due to win his 98th cap in the friendly international against Austria in Vienna on November 16.
Steve McClaren, whose position as head coach is in jeopardy, is to recall the former captain in the hope that he can inspire the against-the-odds revival England need if they are to qualify for the finals of Euro 2008 next summer.

McClaren travelled to Los Angeles to speak to Beckham yesterday, and intends to include him in the squad he names on Friday.
The season in the US has finished for Beckham’s team, Los Angeles Galaxy, who failed to qualify for the playoffs, and the plan is use the friendly in Vienna to bring him back up to speed in preparation for what could be the decisive Euro 2008 qualifier, at home to Croatia five days later.

England will have effectively been removed from contention by then if Russia win in Israel on November 17 – their final match is at the group’s whipping boys, Andorra, who have lost all 10 of their qualifying matches – but McClaren clings to the belief that “the Israelis will do us a favour”, and has turned to Beckham with that eventuality in mind.

McClaren dropped Beckham immediately on taking over from Sven-Göran Eriksson after the 2006 World Cup, explaining at the time that he was looking for more pace and mobility than the 32-year-old could provide.

Beckham made his England debut in Moldova in 1996 after England’s successful Euro 96 campaign, in which they reached the semi-finals.

He joined a team that still had Paul Gascoigne, Alan Shearer and Paul Ince as part of its make-up.

During that time he has scored 17 goals, although the two sendings-off have been a red mark against his name, particularly his pointless dismissal against Argentina during the 1998 World Cup finals, the repercussions of which made him enemy No 1 at football grounds in England.
Last year’s finals were expected to be the last time that Beckham put on an England shirt, but the coach was forced into a U-turn after a series of disappointing results. Beckham was restored to the team for the friendly against Brazil, England’s first match at the new Wembley.

He kept his place for the qualifier away to Estonia and another friendly, at home to Germany. The next day he played all 90 minutes in LA Galaxy’s 3-0 defeat by Chivas but sprained his right knee in the 33rd minute of the SuperLiga final against Pachuca a week later and was out for six weeks.

He returned as a 68th-minute substitute in Galaxy’s penultimate match of the season against the New York Red Bulls, making it a total of 145 minutes of football in the 10 weeks since the Germany game.
McClaren is looking to him for salvation after the 2-1 defeat by Russia in Moscow last month, which left England’s fate in the hands of others. Beckham is earmarked to replace winger Shaun Wright-Phillips, who was unimpressive in the defeat in Moscow and is no longer sure of his place in the Chelsea team.

McClaren refused to comment on his intentions last night, but informed sources at the Football Association confirmed that Beckham was back for one last hurrah. Well, we assume it will be a last hurrah.







i read this article from the sunday times and found it a lil bit depressing coz it didnt highlight becks achievements at all. there must have been an error while printing, anyway i doubt it anyway. from my point of view, england chances of qualifying is deadly slim. and if you have forgotten already, england only have one games left while their rivals still have an advantage of 2 remaining games. croatia already won their first encounter with england by 2-0. playing at home will get stec's boys all the supports they need, however, a win doesnt make england position even better. if russia won their game against israel they would crash englands hope of participating in euro '08. last match will be against andorra which have yet to obtain a win either at home or away. becks participation is obviously a stunt to save stec's face in front of englands fans. how far this would go? nobody knows. i am tired listening all those non sense already. becks has always been the scapegoat for all england losses. i am afraid he will receive one if england lose or russia succeed. well, i better wait and see. just cant wait to watch the game....best of luck to him and his team.