England: Beckham and Owen Return
McLaren Recalls Former Captain for Games against Brazil and Estonia
May 27, 2007
David Beckham has been recalled to the England squad for the two games in the next ten days. England play Brazil at Wembley in a friendly international next Saturday and then play Estonia in a vital qualification game for next summer’s European Championships.
Beckham who is currently a member of the Real Madrid team which is top of the Spanish Primera Liga and challenging for their first title since 2003 hasn’t played for England since last summer’s World Cup tournament in Germany. Following that competition, Beckham stepped down as captain of England but when new manager Steve McLaren took over Sven Goran Eriksson, he decided to omit Beckham from the squad, preferring to look to the future with younger players.
It was a move that many praised as being as an opportunity to distance England from the Beckham media circus and frenzy that accompanied his every move nad that of his wife Victoria and his family.
Planned Move to LA Galaxy
Beckham’s star was seen to be on the wane at that point and further with his inability to hold down a pace in the Real Madrid, it appeared that his best days were behind him. Told, last January, by the Real Madrid manager, Fabio Capello, that he would not play for Real again, Beckham took the decision to move to America and agreed to sign for LA Galaxy at the end of the Spanish season.
Resurrected his Career with Real Madrid
While much time has been devoted to preparations for that move, Beckham has managed to re-establish himself in the Real Madrid side which is now top of the Primera Liga with two games remaining. He has played an important part in their nine wins in the last ten games which has seen them overtake their chief title rivals, Barcelona and Sevilla.
Now with England struggling in their qualification games, manager Steve McLaren had had to do an about turn and recall Beckham who is expected to start the game at Wembley against Brazil. Beckham’s last match for England was the quarter-final defeat by Portugal but his performances throughout the competition had been disappointing. He had gone into the tournament with performances in the warm-up games that had suggested he could produce something special in his third world Cup but that was not the case.
Beckham's England Record;
Now he may get the opportunity to resurrect his England career which started in 1996 in a World Cup qualifier against Moldiva. He has played in 94 internationals and scored 17 goals having been made captain in 2000 by caretaker manager, Peter Taylor.
Although moving to the American Major League Soccer in the summer, Beckham is still convinced that he will be able to play for England and that the move should not be detrimental to his international career.
Michael Owen Returns
Michael Owen also returns to the England squad following his return from injury sustained during the World Cup. Owen missed most of the season with Newcastle United and only returned to the team for the final four games of the season. Having proved his fitness, he played in the England ‘B’ international against Albania and although he has still to score a goal in his comeback games, he did enough to persuade McLaren to include him in the squad for the internationals. He returns in place of Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney who is serving a one game suspension.
England Squad:
Robinson (Tottenham), Carson (Liverpool), Green (West Ham),P Neville (Everton), R Ferdinand (Man Utd), Terry (Chelsea), Bridge (Chelsea), Brown (Man Utd), Carragher (Liverpool), Dawson (Tottenham), King (Tottenham), Shorey (Reading), Beckham (Real Madrid), Gerrard (Liverpool), Jenas (Tottenham), J Cole (Chelsea), Lennon (Tottenham), Bentley (Blackburn), Carrick (Man Utd), Lampard (Chelsea), Downing (Middlesbrough), Dyer (Newcastle), Crouch (Liverpool), Owen (Newcastle), Smith (Man Utd), Defoe (Tottenham).
