Beckham ready to deliver for England
With Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Rio Ferdinand all ruled out, Sven-Goran Eriksson was relieved to see his captain come through yesterday’s return to full training without any sign of aggravating his groin injury.
The England coach believes Beckham will be fully fit for the game, although he conceded he would still be prepared to start him “if he’s 95% and it would not be dangerous for the future”.
Eriksson added: “I expect him to play. Talking to him, the physios and the doctors, they are all convinced that he will be okay for the game.
“David had a good World Cup even if he wasn’t 100% but I think he will be 100% fit this time. It’s not a muscle injury that could be made worse if he played, and he should be okay.”
Beckham pledged to be completely honest about the groin problem sustained earlier this week and, barring any overnight reaction, he is determined to line up in Skopje to win his 62nd cap.
“I’ve had some intense work on my groin in the past couple of days and I don’t think that it will be a problem,” he insisted.
“If I didn’t feel as near to 100% as I could feel, then I’d say myself that I shouldn’t be playing. I have to feel confident I can get through the game and perform to the highest level.”
What really made the England captain bristle, however, was the suggestion he had been given special treatment this week in being allowed to join the squad late on Wednesday afternoon.
Rather than flying straight to Manchester after Real Madrid’s match against Villarreal on Tuesday night, Beckham’s flight went to Stansted, allowing him to stay at home before being driven up to the team hotel.
However, he maintained: “It was always organised that I had the game on the Tuesday night and I’d arrive at some point on Wednesday. There was never any time limit put on that. I knew I wouldn’t have trained that day and the manager hasn’t had any problem with that.”
Eriksson resolutely backed up his captain, adding: “Everything was organised in advance and there was no confusion. He was not supposed to train with us on Wednesday. If he had been, we would have practised in the afternoon. David has never been a special case. Just because he went to Spain to play football, I doubt that he wants to be handled like that. No one has that intention. Normally, Real play on the Saturday or Sunday, it was just that this time Spain were not playing this weekend.”
Alongside Beckham in midfield, Eriksson is expected to start with Nicky Butt, Owen Hargreaves and Frank Lampard, while Wayne Rooney will partner Michael Owen up front.
In defence, John Terry makes his second England start alongside Sol Campbell, with Gary Neville and Ashley Cole at full-back and David James in goal.
The conditions are hardly ideal, with only a handful of away fans unofficially in the stadium after the FA rejected their ticket allocation for security reasons. The pitch is also deceptively hard and bumpy below a seemingly plush surface.
England are on the brink of elimination from the European U-21 championships as the pressure grew on coach David Platt after his side were held to a shock 1-1 draw by Macedonia in the Cair Stadium.
A second-half blunder from keeper Chris Kirkland handed Macedonia a share of the spoils and their first point in the competition after Sheffield United defender Phil Jagielka had broken the deadlock before the interval.
Now England will probably have to defeat Portugal at Goodison Park on Tuesday and then win in Turkey next month to have any hope of finishing in the top two.
Results: Ukraine U-21 1 N Ireland Under-21 0; Italy U-21 Wales U-21; Armenia U-21 0 Greece U-21 0.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
