England Door Poised to Close on Beckham
Soccer: Reports suggest David Beckham will be left out of Steve McClaren's first England squad.
David Beckham's England career appears to be over, as Steve McClaren prepares to leave him out of his first squad.
McClaren will name his squad to face Greece next week at 3pm but Beckham's name is not expected to be in it. The Football Association will not comment on the subject until the new manager appears at a press conference in London.
Beckham has recovered from the Achilles tendon injury which forced him out of the World Cup quarter-final against Portugal, and played the first half of Real Madrid's pre-season friendly against DC United, in Seattle on Wednesday. He is free from injury, although lacking match-sharpness, and is available for selection. But McClaren is determined to make his own mark on the England squad and dispel doubts that his appointment is an extension of the Sven-Goran Eriksson regime.
Beckham was very much Eriksson's man and McClaren could not make his point any more forcefully than by leaving him out of the squad. McClaren worked closely with Beckham at Manchester United as well as England and he is unlikely to write-off Beckham's international career - at least in public. But, at 31, it looks to be over for Beckham.
McClaren obviously believes it would be difficult for the former captain and figurehead of the team to suddenly go back to being one of the boys, fighting for his place. Beckham has played 94 times for his country and captained them on 59 occasions. The caretaker manager Peter Taylor first made him skipper - for a friendly in Italy in 2000 - and Eriksson gave him the honour on a permanent basis in 2001.
His highs include the stunning last-minute free-kick against Greece at Old Trafford in 2001 to fire England to the World Cup finals in Japan and Korea. But, as the Greeks return to Manchester for a friendly on Wednesday, Beckham's international career looks to be at an end.
He stepped down as captain after the penalty shoot-out defeat in the World Cup quarter-final against Portugal, last month. Perhaps sensing McClaren's determination to move the team forward, he made his tearful farewell in Germany but insisted he wanted to remain available as a player in a bid to reach 100 caps. That, however, seems extremely unlikely now.
McClaren will name his squad to face Greece next week at 3pm but Beckham's name is not expected to be in it. The Football Association will not comment on the subject until the new manager appears at a press conference in London.
Beckham has recovered from the Achilles tendon injury which forced him out of the World Cup quarter-final against Portugal, and played the first half of Real Madrid's pre-season friendly against DC United, in Seattle on Wednesday. He is free from injury, although lacking match-sharpness, and is available for selection. But McClaren is determined to make his own mark on the England squad and dispel doubts that his appointment is an extension of the Sven-Goran Eriksson regime.
Beckham was very much Eriksson's man and McClaren could not make his point any more forcefully than by leaving him out of the squad. McClaren worked closely with Beckham at Manchester United as well as England and he is unlikely to write-off Beckham's international career - at least in public. But, at 31, it looks to be over for Beckham.
McClaren obviously believes it would be difficult for the former captain and figurehead of the team to suddenly go back to being one of the boys, fighting for his place. Beckham has played 94 times for his country and captained them on 59 occasions. The caretaker manager Peter Taylor first made him skipper - for a friendly in Italy in 2000 - and Eriksson gave him the honour on a permanent basis in 2001.
His highs include the stunning last-minute free-kick against Greece at Old Trafford in 2001 to fire England to the World Cup finals in Japan and Korea. But, as the Greeks return to Manchester for a friendly on Wednesday, Beckham's international career looks to be at an end.
He stepped down as captain after the penalty shoot-out defeat in the World Cup quarter-final against Portugal, last month. Perhaps sensing McClaren's determination to move the team forward, he made his tearful farewell in Germany but insisted he wanted to remain available as a player in a bid to reach 100 caps. That, however, seems extremely unlikely now.
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