We all want Wayne to be fit. But he's got to make sure he's not going to crack it again
David Beckham is confident going into the World Cup despite fears over Wayne Rooney, writes Ian Hawkey
A strange week for David Beckham. If he felt the hand of history on his shoulders several times, he would be forgiven. It lurched from swansongs to teenage sensations, from metatarsal bulletins in Manchester to presidential machinations at Real Madrid. To start with Sunday evening, and his excellent game for Madrid, although his contribution to it ? two crosses to set up two goals in a 3-3 draw ? was always going to be consigned to a footnote. It was his friend Zinedine Zidane?s final match at the Bernabeu stadium. ?Very emotional,? says Beckham. So there was one era ending.
The next day, shortly after lunch, Beckham took a phone call which announced, loud as a trumpet, that another era had begun. Sven-Göran Eriksson was on the line. Beckham was expecting the protocol call. ?The manager phones the captain 10 minutes before he announces the squad,? Beckham explains. ?Just to keep him in the loop with everything. And I listen to what he?s got to say.?
So Beckham listened. As the list made its way through the familiar, from Neville through Gerrard to Owen, he heard ?Walcott?. What did he think? ?My reaction was the same as it always is,? he insists. ?I was happy to be in the squad myself.?
And Walcott, 17, untried in the Premiership, surplus in the Champions League for Arsenal, suddenly top-23 for England? ?He?ll be a player that no one at the World Cup has seen or heard much about and could be special for us,? Beckham says. ?It?s good: good for him, good for the squad and good for the manager. He (Eriksson) is freshening everything up, and, you know, some people have asked for that, even in the media. He?s done that with Theo. He?s a surprise for everyone.?
Beckham has not seen Walcott play live, although he has ?seen clips? and feels assured by the player?s references. ?I?m sure Arsène Wenger wouldn?t have bought him for the amount he did at the age he did if he didn?t have something special about him.? Beckham took it as an expression of England?s boldness. As the day developed, he began to like the look of Walcott more and more. ?I?ve now seen him speak on television and he seemed excited and pleased. I?m sure he can?t wait to get there now.?
And just a small piece of advice from the captain: ?I don?t think we can put too much pressure on the lad, because he?s just been brought into the squad and he?s still very, very young.?
The 17-year-old was Tuesday morning?s headlines in Britain. In Madrid, meanwhile, Beckham was celebrating the work of a 79-year-old. He must have felt like a Time Lord. The honoured man was Alfredo di Stefano ? a figure, incidentally, who will always give Beckham a glowing reference ? and the occasion the official opening of the arena bearing Di Stefano?s name at Madrid?s new training campus.
Beckham was in the line-up for a re-enactment of the 1956 European Cup final, Madrid versus Stade de Reims, an antique event played between the modern footballers of each club, a reminder of an age when Madrid were fixtures in European Cup finals ? they won the first five ? and a little bitter-sweet for that.
Beckham touched on that aspect of his career when we spoke the next day, principally about his third World Cup, the leadership of England and his many grounds for optimism for June. Among the reasons to be cheerful must be his own form, a level of fitness that he senses is stronger than at the 2002 tournament, when he had recently recovered from a broken metatarsal, and a better state of mind than in the months leading up to Euro 2004.
Beckham takes an encouraging momentum to Germany. No regular watcher of Madrid could doubt that. He has made a case for being their best outfield player this season, perhaps the most effective and galvanising. A simple statistic can clarify: Beckham has been responsible, either with the final pass or the actual conversion, for nearly a quarter of Madrid?s goals this season. He is La Liga?s Rey de las Asistencias, the king of assists, having set up more goals even than Ronaldinho. His crossing has been vintage.
His prizes, though, have been few, and it seems legitimate to wonder if the absence of trophies over the past three years at a club in various states of political turmoil has had any bearing on his approach to a summer with England.
?It?s been a challenging time, really,? he says. ?When you?re at a club like Real Madrid, the expectations are higher, probably, than they have ever been for me. People there expect trophies. When you don?t get them and at the same time your fierce rivals Barcelona are winning things, it?s tough. But the way I?ve looked at it, it?s still playing for Real Madrid. But it?s getting . . .? Annoying? ?Not annoying. But I?ve been here for three years, my family have been here for three years, and I do miss winning trophies. I did it for 10 years at Manchester United, and in only one of those did we not win something. So I miss that. I want that back.?
The volatile nature of Real Madrid as an institution no longer takes him aback, although he is not about to recommend changing coach on average every six months and swapping presidents three times within 12 weeks as a management ideal.
?It?s one thing I wasn?t used to at the start,? he says, smiling. ?After six managers and three presidents, you get used to it. But a club needs stability. We had that at United. Hopefully we can get it at Madrid at the start of next season. Who knows? It would be good to start winning things.?
It still excites him that he is a member of Europe?s most decorated club, that he is popular with their followers, and he intends to be there for a good while to come. ?I?ve missed very few games in three years, I?m part of the team and the club. If I retire here, which I think I will do, to look back on my career and have on my CV Manchester United, England captain and Real Madrid, it?s not a bad CV to have.?
The entry that says ?England captain? is the one that counts for most ? ?the greatest honour? ? on his résumé. He also likes the entries on those CVs he is taking with him to Germany. ?We?ve got great world-class players in our team. A lot of them are club captains. A lot of them have been in, and won, major games.
?If you want me to name-drop, I could name everyone in the squad. We?ve got players like John Terry and Frank Lampard that have won Premierships, Steven Gerrard has won the European Cup, so has Jamie Carragher. Ashley Cole is going to a European Cup final. So is Sol Campbell.
?We?ve got Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville, the captain of Manchester United. There?s Michael Owen, who?s played at Real Madrid and been captain of Liverpool. There?s a few . . .? Beckham acknowledges that no team can be vaccinated against moments of anxiety in high-pressure tournaments, against the finest opponents; that caution is a necessary part of strategy, but he is unhesitant about declaring: ?Our team at the moment is the most confident team I?ve played in with England.?
Nor should the main anxiety of the month be allowed to cloud that. Nobody better than Beckham can put himself in Wayne Rooney?s shoes at the moment. Four years ago Beckham was in the same special footwear designed to accelerate the healing of a damaged metatarsal bone. The difference was the timing. Beckham?s injury was sustained in the April before the 2002 World Cup; Rooney?s in the month before the 2006 tournament.
Naturally, he is sympathetic to Rooney?s plight. What Beckham does recognise is the urgent drive to reach recovery, and he urges those around the player to be sensitive about managing his recuperation. Beckham casts his mind back to 2002. ?I was always so positive I was going to make the World Cup anyway,? he recalls. ?It never entered my head that I might not be ready for it. Wayne has done it a few weeks ? almost a month ? later than I did, but it sounds as if he?s doing very well. I saw him walking around the pitch at Old Trafford without the crutches, with his special boot on. He?ll look after himself.?
But Rooney also needs to be well looked after. ?There?s a lot been said about it. The team has to concentrate, of course. We have got other great players. We all want Wayne to be fit, for his sake as well, because for possibly the best young player not to be at the World Cup would be a shame.
?He?s one of the best, if not the best, in our team. Of course we?d rather have Wayne in our team, on and off the pitch, and he?s great off the pitch. But I do think the important part is for him to get fit. He has to look after himself. If he?s not right, he can?t take risks. He?s a young player and he?s got a huge future ahead of him, so he has to be careful.?
That means he shouldn?t rush it. ?We want him to be fit more than anything. Every one of the players and everyone in the country, I?m sure, wants him to be fit. But he?s got to think of himself as well. He?s got to make sure he?s fit, and he?s not going to go and crack it again.?
Did Beckham feel compromised by pushing his own recovery four years ago? ?There?s always going to be a slight doubt there, but personally I didn?t feel it was a risk going into those games, going into the World Cup. I don?t think I?d have put the team in that position. Most players go into games feeling 90 or 95% fit. You?ve always got some sort of niggling pain. That?s all it was for me. I felt more than fit enough to play and be at that World Cup.?
The final say will lie with Manchester United, Rooney?s employers, as they were Beckham?s employers in 2002. ?Whatever Sir Alex Ferguson says and does is what he thinks is best for Manchester United and what he thinks is best for the players. He?s always been like that. If he feels that Wayne?s not ready, I?m sure he?ll tell Wayne. I know what Wayne?s like. He?ll want to be there, he?ll want to be playing straight away. Sir Alex Ferguson will make that decison. If he feels his player is not fit, I?m sure he?ll tell us that.?
Ferguson was quoted earlier in the week as stressing that Rooney?s absence would put extra responsibility on other senior players, Beckham included. ?He was talking about Stevie [Gerrard] and Frank [Lampard] at the same time,? Beckham says. ?I?m always ready to step up for big games. I step up every time I step on to a football pitch. I?m professional enough and eager enough to want to do well in every game, not just in big competitions, with England, for Manchester United and for Real Madrid. I?m always prepared to take any responsibility.
?If people are saying things about the team or myself, then you have to take that responsibility. It?s my responsibility as captain and one of the more experienced players. I?m there for that. That?s the way I play. I believe I?ve shown in certain big games what I can do. In big competitions: 1998 when I scored with the free kick [against Colombia]. Even before I got sent off against Argentina, I was having a pretty decent game.?
There will be no red cards this time? Beckham smiles and says: ?We hope not.?
Rewinding to France 98 is to recall that World Cups have been quite an odyssey for him: the free kick against Greece that secured participation in Japan; the goal against Argentina that provided one of the tournament?s highlights. England made the last 16 in 1998, the last eight in 2002. He believes in the potential for victory this time, but is not about to issue a wild soundbite. ?If I say, ?We can?, the headline is, ?We Can Win It Without Wayne?, and that?s unfair on Wayne.?
The 2006 England, Beckham adds, have developed a flexibility and achieved a maturity to compete with anybody at the tournament: they are a squad and a coaching staff ready to find Plans B and C, as the absence of Rooney obliges them to.
When you are missing a player like Wayne, you have to have different options,? he says. ?Thankfully the manager?s got that. I?m not saying there?s another Wayne, but I do believe we?ve got people in the team who can perform at that level and do an amazing job for us.
?We?ve got to go with whatever the manager says. We trust in him. We always have done and we always will do until he leaves after the World Cup. We?ve known we?ve always got to have that extra option, especially in international football. That?s why we?ve played different formations at different times. In the World Cup you come up against the likes of Brazil and Argentina and you have to change the way you play sometimes.?
Put to him that a formation with himself at the centre of midfield, an experiment from the autumn, was not such a success, and he responds: ?Obviously I didn?t enjoy the one against Northern Ireland, because we lost. There was a lot of criticism there. But my personal performances in those games, in terms of passing, were probably two of the better games I?d had for a while. But, yes, as a team I think we do play better a different way, and the manager realises that. We have to have options. Whether or not it worked in the Northern Ireland game ? and it didn?t ? it might work against other teams, an Argentina or whatever. It?s good to have tried.?
Beckham?s own standards at the right of midfield are argument enough to keep him there, and in the course of Madrid?s season he has seemed more forthcoming expressing his preference for the flank rather than the centre.
The penny has at last dropped with Madrid, too. To be such a prolific provider ? 16 assists this season ? in a team that often plays without an orthodox target man is striking. ?In terms of condition, I feel great at the moment. I?m not going to say I?m hitting top form, but I was happy with my performance against Villarreal, and I set up two of the goals. I crossed so many balls as well.?
He also feels happier than in the lead-up to England?s last major tournament, Euro 2004. ?The fitness was okay in 2004. The problem going into that was that I?d put on a stone in muscle, and there had been other problems going into that competition, on and off the pitch. Touch wood, I?ll be going into a competition fully fit.?
Nor does he have any sense that it will be his last. Another World Cup (he will be 35 by June 2010) is well beyond guarantee, but he wants to be at Euro 2008, taking the captaincy of England into the reign of the new manager. He warmly endorses the appointment of Steve McClaren, with whom he worked at Manchester United.
Beckham has been in touch to congratulate McClaren a couple of times: on taking Middlesbrough to the Uefa Cup final and on winning the trust of the FA. McClaren?s delight at getting the job instantly reminded Beckham of the coach?s arrival at United. McClaren was beaming.
?Steve?s always beaming,? Beckham says with a chuckle. ?He?s always got that smile on his face. He had it when he came with United the first time when we played Nottingham Forest and beat them 8-1. He?s always been the same. I don?t think he?ll change.?
Might he change the captain? Beckham, who has read such suggestions, says: ?I want to stay there as long as I can, no matter what ex-players come out and say, no matter what the press say. You?re up there to be knocked down sometimes. If you stay up there long enough, you start getting a little bit more respect. That?s what I?ve been trying to do. I?ve been captain for five years and want to continue as long as I can. When I?m not in the plans of a manager that comes in is when I?ll have a look at it.?
As for 2010, ?We?ll see how my legs are feeling and if I?m still in the manager?s eyes in another four years. Yes, this could be my last World Cup, but it doesn?t change the way I feel going into games.
?Nothing spurs me on more than going into a big competition. I?m ready for it and looking forward to it. We all are. We just want to get there now.?
