As a proud englishman, and football fanatic, I am disgusted that Fabio has left Dave out of the squad. He claims dave is not matct fit, even though he has been training with Arsenal for the last six weeks. There is no doubt that David Beckham is STILL the best Passer, and Crosser of the ball we have, and gives more on the pitch than any other player. I know America has barely seen what he has to offer due to his injuries, but believe me, this coming season the Galaxy will have one hell of a player.
Cappello sometimes seem like he would be better off on an Italian Soap Opera then running a national team.. He seems to have some old beef left over from the RM days. I don't understand so much back and forth over a fcuking friendly. I respect him as a coach but something between him and Beckham is obviously wrong. Who knows maybe jealousy maybe its nothing. But the whole thing smells of personal vendetta.
posted this elsewhere: Poor Becks. Don't really understand this decision by Capello. It just seems strange. A friendly, and he can't give a guy his 100th cap? (yes, I can understand that players must earn caps and deserve to be part of the team, but there's a legit argument that the 100th cap is a special/unique opportunity.) Lack of fitness and competitive match play is the manager's concern? If Becks is indeed left out of the squad, and continues to sit on 99 international caps, then this saga will just drag on. To me, it would make more sense (and benefit Capello as a coach in the long run) to get this 100 cap milestone out of the way (with a relatively meaningless friendly in London vs the Swiss) and not have to deal with the ongoing questions of "When will Beckham get his 100th cap?" It just seems more logical and simpler to give the player some minutes vs the Swiss and be done with it. If he doesn't appear on 2/6/08, when is Beckham's next opportunity to be called away from the Galaxy for NT duty (not that Capello might actually select him for England)? Answer: three day's before the Galaxy open their season on March 29, 2008. So it would be unlikely that Capello could call him in for that, as the same "lack of match fitness" argument would/should apply. England's upcoming schedule, per fifa.com (http://fifa.com/worldfootball/results/male.html) France England 26/03/2008 SAINT-DENIS Friendly Andorra England 06/09/2008 FIFA World Cup™ Qualifier Croatia England 10/09/2008 FIFA World Cup™ Qualifier England Kazakhstan 11/10/2008 FIFA World Cup™ Qualifier Belarus England 15/10/2008 FIFA World Cup™ Qualifier Germany England 19/11/2008 BERLIN Friendly perhaps Beckham will get his 100th cap in Berlin (assuming that Wednesday friendly doesn't conflict with any game that LAG might be playing in Novermber).
Man, Capello's gonna get SLAMMED hardcore by the world press if they lose that friendly next week without Becks. Also, if Beckham is healthy this Summer and playing world-class football while with Galaxy and Capello still leaves him off the squad against Andorra, it's gonna be evident that it was Capello the whole time that kept Becks off RM, not the FO like he claimed, and he's more into looking good than winning for England.
I am glad Beckham is not playing. Fabio made the right choice. Your'e gonna put Beckham in the lineup when he is not even playing? He hasn't even been training with Arsenal the last week or so. And your gonna put him out there instead of someone like Shaun Wright-Phillips, who plays week in and out on one of the top teams in the world? Becks is done, face it, get over it, live with it. He has done his best for England, now its time to move on. If he stays at 99 caps vs 100, 20 years from now, it is not going to matter. He will be rememberd as a great player no matter how many caps he has.
I don't think this is good for MLS as Beckham will start get more pressure to leave in order to be "match fit" for England at the same time the rest of the team is match fit. By the way if Capello wants to be consistant, he'll start Beckham during every summer game as he'll be the only match fit player for England.
That is a great point. I think Capello is being stupid. Why not give Becks his 100th cap in a meaningless friendly and get it over with and move on, if he then didn't call him up in the future then I don't think it would be such a big deal.
The guy (Capello) is a f***ing jerk. I'm not even a Becks fan but it is obvious that this a-hole has a personal issue with Beckham and that's why he did that. It just doesn't make sense that he left him out of the squad, just doesn't make any sense. What a jerk. Again, that's the English FA and another new dumb choice added to their big list of "dumb choices". They should give this FA the "worst FA award" every year.
I think this is grounds for Beckham to petition Fifa to allow him to play for the USMNT (once he becomes a US citizen of course). Hey, if Martin Vasquez can switch national teams, why can't David Beckham?
so next time when England schedules a friendly in July, what will Capello do since non of his player will be match fit? I mean, it's about respect and Beckham himself kinda made the commitement from his end by training with Arsenal. i believe capello is not considering beckham at all for his plans so he wont ever call him in. He's prolly thinkiing MLS is not good enough and all. Now I hope Capello fails!
Englad only has I believe, 3 or 4 friendlies before world cup qualifying starts. England didn't qualify for EURO 08. The point is, for England, and Fabio, there are no "meaningless friendlies" He has a very short time to take a look at players, and lets face it, when World Cup qualifying starts, do you really think Becks will be on anyones mind in England? He did the right thing, he knows what he is doing, he has won at every level, and every competition. For all those that think Becks deserves to play (even though he hasnt played since november in meaningless Galaxy friendlies) I ask you this, who would you leave OFF the squad to make room for him? By the way Beckham can never play for the US since he has played for England.
well if i am an englishmen and this guys has been serving the country for years. Help us qualified for WC02 and win us a game in WC06, my answer is yes! from outsider, i dont really care that's why i cant blame Fabio. I just think there should be some kinda respect from England. If you need want to get more games before qualifying, schedule more games in the summer.
I agree with the first part of your post. Friendlies are a chance to try new things and give inexperienced players a look. So not selecting Becks during his off-season makes perfect sense.. But I think he will feature for England in September. "every summer game"??? At most England will schedule one friendly (around 20 August) to prepare for the Croatia match in September. Of course, we'd already be 3 rounds into the new Premiership season by the time they would play that friendly.
Shiiiiiiiit, Bambi can get a call up and Beckham can't? What's Capello seeing in those aquarium glasses?
Excellent decision by Capello not to show any sentimentality in selecting a player who isn't match fit and hasn't played a game at 100% fitness since June. Similarly, he hasn't selected players such as Robinson and Defoe who are not playing regular first team football. If and when Beckham regains match fitness will be the time to consider him for selection. As for "summer" games, I don't understand the point. England will play games immediately after the English season finishes and after the start of the following season. They're not going to be playing games in the middle of the English off-season as this game is in the middle of the MLS off-season.
Comon, this is a meaningless game. Yes, it's nice to see what players can do, and I don't think anyone is arguing Becks should start and/or play the whole match, but there's absolutely no good reason you should just give him the 100the cap in a 5 minute sub appearance. This is classless, and I'm really surprised a Brit ex-pat such as yourself believes any differently. Give him his 100th, and tell him to move on, it's time for Bentley or SWP to take over. That's best for all parties. Now there's going to be another Becks story for every friendly England play. Just give the man his 100th cap in a meaningless game for a few minutes time. There's really nothing to lose there, you're not going to get a meaningful evaluation of SWP or Bentley in 5 minutes.
Exactly. If Capello wants to make a statement, make it by sitting Gerard, Lampard, Terry, Rooney. Not letting Beckham have his moment in the sun doesn't come off as tough, it comes off as spiteful.
If Beckham hadn't deliberately got himself booked to avoid a trip to Baku the other year, he would already have 100 caps. The guy hasn't played a game in months. He isn't match fit. Let's see what Capello says
England should schedule a friendly against the US this summer and play Beckham. Everyone happy and the USSF gets a ton of money.