9:13am Tuesday 16th March 2010
By Scott Wilson
WHEN David Beckham saluted the Old Trafford crowd last Wednesday, it was interpreted as the farewell he was denied when he left Manchester United to join Real Madrid in 2003.
Today, as he begins the process of recovery from the Achilles injury that has ruled him out of this summer’s World Cup, it increasingly looks like he was waving goodbye to his entire football career instead.
Beckham yesterday insisted he would return to play again, but it is hard to imagine him doing anything other than run down the clock in the wastelands of America’s Major Soccer League.
The days of international dominance, when he transformed the England midfield into his own personal fiefdom, are surely long gone. The best England international of his generation has come to the end of the road.
Beckham deserves that epithet, as no other player has contributed as much, either on or off the field, in the 14 years since he made his international debut in an otherwise unremarkable 3-0 win in Moldova.
Alan Shearer and Michael Owen might have scored more goals, Paul Scholes might arguably have been integral to the winning of more matches, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard might have received higher praise from other international coaches.
But Becks was the heartbeat of the England side, the dynamo capable of single-handedly pulling victory from the jaws of defeat and the talisman offering supporters an emotional bond between terrace and pitch.
His 115 caps contained a number of stellar displays, none better than the preternatural performance against Greece that dragged England into the 2002 World Cup, none more satisfying than the subsequent outing against Argentina in Japan that laid to rest the ghosts from four years earlier in Saint Etienne.
For the best part of a decade, Beckham made the England midfield his own, gradually evolving from a right-winger specialising in eye-catching set-pieces to a central midfielder capable of dictating the pace and tempo of a game via a series of perfectly-judged passes.
Yet it was away from the field of play that Beckham cemented his position as the standard-bearer for his nation.
In an era when international football was gradually being overshadowed by the glitz and glamour of the Champions League, and the likes of Scholes and Jamie Carragher were turning their back on their country in order to further their club career, Beckham was the personification of the child that dreamed of wearing an England shirt.
For him, international football remained at the very top of the tree, and the captaincy of his country was an honour to be cherished rather than cheapened.
Compare the tawdriness of John Terry’s demotion back into the ranks of English foot-soldiers to the tearful press conference that marked the end of Beckham’s reign.
This was a player who regarded the England armband as the ultimate honour, and continued to give his all for the national cause even when it was removed from his sleeve.
How many other players, having agreed to move to America after Steve McClaren informed him his international days were over in 2006, would have made such a concerted effort to prove the former England manager wrong?
Some commentators interpreted Beckham’s tenminute substitute appearances as a belittling of the England cap system. To the supporters of the national side, however, it was merely confirmation that the English cause still meant as much to him as it did to them.
That was why, as England scored three unanswered second-half goals against Egypt earlier this month, the biggest cheer was still reserved for Beckham as he warmed up as an unused replacement.
Even on the touchlines, he was still the star of the show
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