a tear.
A bit back it was announced that Wes Brown would only be out for a few weeks with his broken foot and I asked why England couldn’t catch a break and the dopey fullback that Fabio loves so much couldn’t be out until it was impossible for him to make the World Cup.
So it was with a cheer I heard last night that David Beckham will be missing out on his automatic squad place for what would have been his fourth World Cup.
What with Lennon’s on going injury concerns making his involvement look less and less likely and Fabio’s apparent obsession with fielding those players that have failed miserably at the last three tournaments they got to, failing even more miserably to even get to the last one. There had to be some good news at some point.
Now I know in the last post I had a go at those that cheered Jonny Wilkinson’s injury during the Calcutta Cup and in no time at all have turned around and done the exact thing. But no, it’s not the same. One thing that was rugby football and this is association football two completely different things. What is acceptable in one is contemptible in the other 😉
So the only tears I shed at the news of Beckham’s Achilles tear, are tears of joy. I’ll leave the tears of pity to himself, his various business managers, the silly little girls, the idiots that believe that hype and foreigners, mainly in the Far East who are more interested in celebrity than England achieving anything of any merit.
I’ll look at the facts that tell a far better version of the truth than the media fanboys who worship his every movement. Witness one Clive Tyldesley during AC Milan’s stuffing by ManUre in the Champions League just under a week ago. How many boxes of tissues did Mr. Tyldesley get through during the 26 minutes Beckham was actually on the park? The 26 minutes in which he produced on two decent things, one cross across the box and the shot, which you could count either way after all it didn’t produce a goal as it was straight at the ‘keeper. Every other cross and every set piece, you know those corners and free-kicks at which he is such a master, was inept finding only the head of a player in red.
That game pretty much summed up Beckham as we stood on Sunday afternoon. Not worthy of a starting place in a Milan side that was inept, as a sop, allowed on when the game was well and truly over to milk some applause, producing nothing that would get his team back into the game. And at the end when he’d done nothing on the park worth really talking about, walking off with a green and gold anti-Glazer protest scarf around his neck, to make sure he got his phizog in the papers. Pathetically doing anything in desperation to deprive others of the headlines.
No tears for a player who went to three World Cups:
So no tears for the player who cost England in 1998 – no it wasn’t just him, Shearer’s elbow and some inept penalty takers played their part but if he hadn’t been sent off…
No tears for the player who cost England in 2002 – when with England one up and in control he ponced out of that challenge to save himself and the injury that should have kept him out of that World Cup, but for Svennis’ man-crush, leading to Rivaldo’s equaliser and the eventual loss to Brazil.
No tears for the player who cost England in 2006 – A lumbering nothing of a player, who slowed up every England move when he was on the right. More often than not though found clogging up the centre of the park humping aimless balls from deep well over Peter Crouch’s head. And that takes some doing. Lennon wasted on the sidelines, no coincidence that England were better when Svennis amazing replaced one with the other. Where Beckham just gave away possession with his inept crosses Lennon kept the ball. Then he limped off in the quarters and cried for himself.
No tears for the only England player sent of twice and only captain to be dismissed.
No tears for the man who again cried for himself when standing down as captain.
Ah but he got us to the 2002 World Cup, it was his free kick that did it. Of course but no mention that he was so poor in qualification that it had to come down to a that moment against Greece. He was atrocious on the day and had missed how many previous free kicks.
Yes his speciality, how many times did you hear the commentators rave about his free kick ability when England were awarded one? And how many times did you hear them cheer him scoring one? Well in 115 caps he scored 17 goals. Says it all really, all those free kicks right in his area and he scored a whole 17 times.
David Beckham is not and was never a great player, would never make an all time England XI, wouldn’t make the bench or even the squad and that was when he was at his peak, which is a long time ago. He was only picked now to sell shirts, tickets and TV rights, not for footballing reasons. He will not be missed by England at the World Cup, well you certainly won’t miss him because you can guarantee he’ll make sure he’s the centre of attention throughout the tournament.
Gazza is the greatest football England has produced in my lifetime, he only went to one World Cup, in which he was a star, Jimmy Greaves who would be an automatic in an all time England XI was only in two and was cruelly denied glory in the second. Beckham was in three World Cups and two European Championships and lit none of them up. Don’t shed any tears for him not making one more.