Give Beckham his 100th Cap Already!

By: Laurie | January 30th, 2008

A month or so ago, the English papers were reporting that David Beckham would get his 100th cap next week in the Switzerland friendly. And they weren’t just saying he’d play. They were saying he’d wear the captain’s band yet again.

It made sense. England hadn’t qualified for Euros. There was no point to this game. Wembley is a huge stadium. To keep this from being a money loser, they needed a hook. And according to reports at the time, that hook was Watch David Beckham get his 100th cap.

But new England coach Fabio Capello has now said, Not so fast. According to BBC Sport:

New England manager Fabio Capello is stalling on a decision whether to give David Beckham his 100th cap against Switzerland next week. Capello wants to pick players only on merit and has doubts over Beckham’s fitness.

This has led to strenuous denials from Beckham. After all, he’s been in England, by all accounts working his butt of with Arsenal, mainly to maintain his fitness so that he can get that cap.

The former Manchester United star, who played under Capello for a season at Real Madrid, is convinced he has done all he can to prove he is still worth his place.

“To get picked to play for my country is always special and because it’s my 100th game it makes it extra special. It would mean the world,” he told Sky News on Tuesday from Brazil. “Hopefully it happens but we have to wait and see. If it doesn’t it doesn’t. That’s part of life and part of football. But I’m keeping my fingers crossed. Hopefully I’ve worked hard enough this last month and a half to get myself fit and to make myself available.

The game — again, a meaningless friendly — is sold out, and most people believe that’s because it was promoted as the game where Beckham would reach The Milestone. And now that’s in doubt.

Why? Can somebody explain to me the point of NOT giving Beckham his 100th? Seriously, what does it hurt? It’s not as if England has to get in shape or cap specific players to get ready for Euros. Their next big competition is World Cup. In two-and-a-half years. Qualifying doesn’t even start till September.

Not to be crassly commercial about this, but they owe him. It’s not just that he’s given his all for the team. It’s not just that he’s the former captain. The man has pretty much singlehandedly sold their 90,000 seats for them. Seriously, why else would anybody go to see England play right now? They’re a bunch of overpaid divas who pee on barroom floors and do eighteen-year-old models in men’s rooms. And on the field, they suck.

What we have here with Beckham is a former captain currently sitting on 99 caps. He’s shown his form for England in every recent game for which he was called up and uninjured. It’s not his fault that England didn’t make Euros. In fact, if McClaren hadn’t been so pigheaded in the early games and insisted on not calling on Beckham, they might have qualified.

Yeesh, Capello. If you want a fresh start for England, by all means take your fresh start.

But before you do, give the man his 100th cap and get it over with!

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me

verrrrrry interesting i must say. i did not know that david becham wore his hat like that???? kool ill know now!!!!!
thank you for your help and good luck in the future
me
Laurie

Rachel, that's very insightful. I hope you don't mind if I use it in a future post?
Rachel H

Fabio has failed to realise that to England supporters it's not just the winning but the taking part that matters. We care about our iconic players, we care about cliched milestones and tradition, we love the bitter-sweet recollections of Gazza's tears and penalty shoot out defeats - we are just old softies at heart and to get under the skin of the English psyche is what Fabio needs to at least try to do if he is to inspire his team and supporters. If Fabio had chosen Beckham he would have allowed us to take our new manager to our hearts, to acknowledge that maybe just for one, a foreign manager might have an insight into what makes England tick. Instead he has spitefully omitted him, using the match fitness question and looking to the future as an excuse. Maybe we do not a new broom to sweep clean but Fabio has a lot to learn about the hearts and minds of his players and their supporters.
cfc069

BECKHAM IS OUT OF THE ENGLAND SQUAD

KTBFFH
Chris

Its Capello's first game, he wants to make a statement to this group of over pampered England flops that you get in the squad on your current form and performances, and right now Beckham doesn't have any.

Sven Goran Eriksson's problem was being sucked into the view that certain high profile players, Beckham being the number one, couldn't be dropped no matter how poorly they played. The England team hit bottom in November and Capello needs to be ruthless from the start. International caps should be given out on merit not sentimentality.
Laurie

Thanks for the comments, everybody. (Diane, of course we missed you.) :-)

Typical, thanks. It's so rare that people agree with me completely. :-)

Ian, Diane, Evan, I agree it's not cut and dried. Thing is, when you're dealing with a player who is close to the 100th cap mark, they're seldom in the same form they were at 50. Aging sucks, and sentimentality almost always has some role. And I think it should, especially if the game doesn't MEAN anything and the player has performed well historically.

Tower0Surfer, I have yet to read anything saying X is dismissed, so I'm assuming he's still here. A good thing -- we need experience back there! I'm also assuming there are a few non-rostered players under observation right now. With luck we'll find a diamond in the rough.

Evan, you're always free to play devil's advocate here. I like debate. Of course I'd never go so far as to post a provocative and/or one-sided post just to see if people are reading or anything. ;-)

JustJack, I'd forgotten that it was Capello's fault that we lost Beckham for most of last year! How could I forget something like that?

CSD: Becks promoted for a game that he might not even be at? Maybe England is starting to use MLS’s marketing dept.

Giggle.
CSD

Becks promoted for a game that he might not even be at? Maybe England is starting to use MLS's marketing dept.

If I were Capello, I would put Beckham on the team, get the fans on my side, and then see how it goes. Anyways, who else are you going to be on the right? Shaun Wright-Phillips? hahahah!
JustJack

It also strikes me that Becks needs this particular cap more than anything because his rep as a footballer has been seriously bloodied. Even those of us who wished him well and hoped for the best for his time here in MLS feel shaken by the injury recovery thing.

I await opening day... with as much nausea as cautiously optimistic hope (or mebbe desperation). As for the England match.... eh, Frankie and Johns are both still out so I could care less... unless Becks does play...nah.
JustJack

We need a preview thingy... "...beatings OF the footballing wayward diva..." arg. I fault my sticky keyboard... the library is a very unsanitary place.
JustJack

Wasn't Capello the same Real Madrid coach who let Becks play injured in a La Liga final that they had well in hand without Becks (which was also the moment when his injured ankle/foot got reinjured and more seriously so prior to moving to the US)? I still insist Capello's "allowing" Becks to play then was purely out of spite that Becks had signed with the Galaxy and Capello deemed himself the wise evil wizard in charge of punishments and beatings or the footballing wayward diva.

Now Capello's in charge of beck's 100th cap fate and can't you just imagine the evil gleam in the wizard's eyes now? Ask Ronaldo (BRA) about Capello and in the Brazlian press he was rather candid about Capello's vindictive-inclinations... if I can find those articles...

Or I could be mistaken and this Capello fellow isn't the same guy at all...

Oh, and the snark about the England Divas... um, not all of them are as described... I cite to the Chelsea five (or was it seven... with so many injuries among them I can't recall that detail either) who have most of the goal scoring credits for England and the responsibility for the more brilliant moments that outshone the overall suckage in results. Or maybe my Chelsea flag is just coloring my pespective too blue...
Evan

Just to play devil's advocate--why should he pick him? He hasn't played a competitive game for close to three months now, he's playing in what is relatively a small league, and why should a cap in a meaningless friendly be important at all? Plus, no player is entitled to a cap--making it seem like he deserves it kind of takes the spotlight away from the game itself. It's not a testimonial.

(Like I said, devil's advocate. I don't necessarily agree with all of that--I don't really give a damn about England internationals, and anything that risks injury to Beckham makes me nervous!)
Diane

Laurie, did you miss me? That stalling story spread from a piece by Sid Lowe, who covers La Liga for The Guardian and The Telegraph, and contributes to a few other English and Spanish outlets. We like him a lot and he would certainly hear any rumors afoot. But even the rumors were said to come from Capello's staff. Capello is famous for not releasing a word about his squad plans until he posts it the night before a match--he doesn't talk to the players and he certainly doesn't talk to the media. Announcing one a week before a game will be the first big concession he makes to international play. So any stories that come out regarding his plans before Friday are all conjecture--which is kind of fun isn't it?

As someone who you know has enjoyed Beckham's efforts on behalf of England as well as his previous club teams (I'll get back to you on the Galaxy) I think he should be picked for his 100th game on fitness and his ability to contribute. I'm not sure a ceremonial cap would mean as much to anyone else as it would to the FA's cash register (as you point out). But that doesn't mean he won't ever get it on merit.

The thing about Capello is that he's so serious about football, he won't call someone or NOT call someone up because of anything the papers, the FA, the public or 700 retired players say. He has impenetrable blinders. He also knows how to put a team together--body, heart and mind--otherwise he could never have pulled together Madrid's seriously rotting club-house last year.
Capello may or may not pick Beckham, but if he does it will because he's fit AND has something to offer the team, whether its his crossing which still has no peer in England or his ability to read a game (both of which Capello depended on as much or more than dead ball skills at Madrid), his support of younger players (which Capello also put to good use), and/or his attitude and impact on team morale which Capello has said will be the first problems he has to address.

Of course Beckham should reach his 100th cap, either now or when he's fit. He contributed more to the last qualifying campaign in the few matches he was in than most of the rest of the squad who were there all year and healthy. But if Capello picks him it will be because he has a contribution to make--and Capello's certainly shown that he understands the various contributions players can make whether they play 90 minutes or 10.

Hmmm, both England and the Galaxy have particularly interesting coaching set-ups to watch these days...so much to do! And yes, I have seen how ruthless Capello can be before anyone who has managed to read this far starts to yell at me.
tower0surfer

Becks seems to get them wins. They would not have been close to Euro 2008 if he had not come in a got some results. Even in friendlies he helps get results, was it not his cross that Terry headed in against Brazil. I could be wrong, it seems like ages ago.
A question about the galaxy roster. The team website does an amazing job of keeping player and staff bios up to date. So is Abel Xavier still on the squad? I know that other players have moved on but are still listed on the roster, but this one confuses me. The roster seems small, less than 20 players, for a team who will be playing in a two day tourney then traveling to Asia. I am getting tired of the lack of information from the club. Are they this incompetent that they cannot even update rosters?
Ian

It's an interesting question. Capello plays friendlies to win - he's proven that in the past. And England fans want wins, both to put them back where they believe they should be in the world rankings and to bring some confidence back to a beleaguered side. From a pure play-to-win standpoint, Becks is far from the best option, and is probably third in line right now. Sure, he puts some butts in the seats, but the fact that Capello is acting like a coach and not like a promoter is good news for England.

That being said, my sentimental side would like to see him get 100 caps. It's a great milestone.