reading so many negative news makes me sick and decided to put them away. anyway, i came across this good article concerning becks national career. to be honest i rarely read positive news about becks both on and off the field. when he fails people are eager to write on the wall of sins, but if he champions little effort is made to recognise his triumph. i guess this article is one of a kind. enjoy then....
Time they called him Sir David Beckham
On Sunday Fabio Capello will announce England’s squad for their World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Belarus. David Beckham is likely to make the list.
But I don’t want to wake up the day when there will be no Beckham in any such lists. When he’ll have packed the jersey and the boots in the trunk. When he’ll have played his farewell game in front of thousands of cheering fans.
I only hope his farewell game is at Old Trafford or Wembley and not at the Home Depot Centre in California. Beckham deserves that honour. To turn out for his last game at either of these great English stadiums and lauded for his contribution to football.
And not to end his career in front of a crowd of Hollywood A-listers, who’ll pay more attention to the colour he’s dyed his hair.
His iconic powers, good looks aside, I proudly admit to being a huge fan of him, the footballer.
This admission has often raised eyebrows, and resulted in an expulsion from the club of serious football enthusiasts.
For Becks can’t float like Zinedine Zidane, wasn’t blessed with the abilities of Maradona. He is too weak to win a tackle, too clumsy to dance down the pitch and score a goal. He just isn’t a great footballer.
But he is the greatest ‘hit-me’ doll ever made. The harder he was punched, the stronger he came back. In the 1998 World Cup, England’s ouster by Argentina was largely blamed on Beckham, who got himself sent off after kicking Diego Simeone. There was a nationwide hate campaign against him, effigies burnt and even death threats. He took it all and came back to win the treble with Manchester United in the very next season. He trained himself to become the greatest player in the dead-ball situation. Not many can still match his accuracy.
In his over-a-decade-long career, Beckham has taken it all — the hatred, vilification and jeers. He has now played 105 international games and scored 17 goals. That’s surely an over-achievement for someone of his talent and I only have admiration for such a spirit.
But, he has also received tremendous love, from people world over. (Here’s an extreme example — ‘a fan was reported to have licked every toilet seat she could access at a famous hotel in hopes of tasting one he had used’). He’s made his millions posing for the cameras, endorsing even underwear, has married a pop star, and is best friends with Tom Cruise.
He is now 33 years old and it seems, has realised that he has more to do for the game off the field than on it. He is willing to step aside and make way for Theo Walcott, if it means England can win the match. He is eager to work with various world bodies in promoting the game. The FA has benefited from his popularity.
Isn’t it fair then that we place Beckham in the same pantheon as the greatest of the game — if not for his skill, then for his impact? And it’s high time we called him ‘Sir David Beckham’
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