Beckham issues England reminder

DAVID BECKHAM reiterated his desire to be part of England’s World Cup adventure next summer after an eye-catching cameo in the 3-0 win over Belarus at Wembley last night.

Beckham, who lifted the side’s tempo following his second-half introduction and hit the post, is eager to retain his place in Fabio Capello’s squad and revealed one of the key factors in that plan – agreeing a second loan spell with AC Milan – is “95% done”.

Speaking after two goals from Peter Crouch and one from Shaun Wright-Phillips sealed victory in their final Group Six outing, the Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder said: “Tonight was important for getting over the loss (against Ukraine on Saturday).

“We all have to prove with every game and every training session that we want to be in the squad for every game. Not just the World Cup, but every qualifier and every time we meet up.”

Peter Crouch added: “I’m just pleased to put two goals away and we won the game very convincingly in the end.

“Whenever I come in I do a job and don’t let anyone down – if I can continue to do that hopefully I’ll get a game.”

Fellow scorer Shaun Wright-Phillips added: “They made things hard for us but we had to be patient.

“Respect to the lads, they kept giving me the ball and I kept picking myself up and going again.

“We’ve just got to show Fabio Capello what we are capable of and the rest is up to him.”

ENGLAND: Foster, Johnson, Ferdinand, Terry, Bridge (Milner 78), Lennon (Beckham 58), Lampard, Barry, Wright-Phillips, Crouch, Agbonlahor (Carlton Cole 66).

BELARUS: Zhevnov, Kulchy, Yurevich, Sosnovskiy, Bordachev (Kashevsky 84), Verkhovtsov, Omelyanchuk, Shitov, Kalachev, Kornilenko (Kovel 77), Kutuzov (Rodionov 45).

Referee: Lucilio Cardoso Cortez Batista (Portugal).