Will Beckham be back?

By: Daryl | May 25th, 2007

Beckham waiting for recall There’s a lot of talk in England about the national team today. Not the B international at Turf Moor (which is basically just a glorified opportunity for Michael Owen to re-injure himself) but about a certain Mr. David Beckham and the possibility of Steve McClaren recalling him to the international fold.

Seems McClaren’s having a bit of trouble making up his mind whether to include Becks in the squad, which he’ll name Saturday morning, to face Brazil at Wembley and then Estonia away. “I keep my eye on everybody and I said from day one that David’s form would be monitored,” the England boss said. “I never said the door was closed on David Beckham.”

Becks has been in decent form for Real Madrid recently, but that’s been overhyped a little by the English press. Martin Samuel convincingly argues in The Times that “Beckham’s performances for Real Madrid are largely reported and not witnessed.” He’s actually missed much of Real’s recent title charge with injuries and suspension, and though he’s looked the part when on the field it’s not as if he’s been winning games singlehandedly.

McClaren knows what Beckham can do. He can stand wide on the right and deliver great passes and crosses, but at the expense of a more orthodox right winger like Aaron Lennon. What McClaren will likely be pondering is how a Beckham recall would affect his own popularity, which is dwindling with every unconvincing performance.

First, Beckham should never have been dropped in the first place. All McClaren needed to do was scale back Beckham’s influence so the team didn’t revolved around one man so much, and Beckham himself had already taken a step in that direction by resigning his captaincy. McClaren’s decision to exclude him altogether (popular at the time in England) was seen as the new man stamping his authority on the team, but was always going to come back to haunt him if results went badly.

Second, McClaren needs to think about the future. Beckham could play in these next two games but what will happen when he starts playing in MLS? The season is on a completely different calendar to the England national team, so any games not played between April and November will find him lacking match fitness.

The only heart warming thing in all this is Beckham himself, and his admirable attitude to all that’s happened. For all his his branding and braiding, he’s always shown himself to be 100% committed to England and would never turn down an opportunity to represent his country.

All will be revealed tomorrow morning when McClaren announces his squad.