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David Beckham?
Beckham the history man
By Matt Dickinson, Chief Football Correspondent
DAVID BECKHAM declined to announce his retirement from international football yesterday, but Steve McClaren had already done that for him. While the Real Madrid midfield player talked of fighting to regain his England place, head coach and player know that their conversation this week was not au revoir but adieu.
Beckham will not play for his country again — certainly not if McClaren sees out his four-year contract — and the former captain knows as much. It is a subdued end, and a sad one, for a player who has dominated English football for so long, but McClaren was only being polite when he said that the door was still ajar.
“We spoke on Monday and I said I was planning for the future, looking to go in a different direction, and David was not included in that,” McClaren said. He now has three right-wing options in Aaron Lennon, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Steven Gerrard in his squad to face Greece at Old Trafford on Wednesday.
Beckham, 31, would argue that he remains one of the best 23 English footballers and certainly deserving of a place ahead of Wright-Phillips, but his omission is not down simply to age or his disappointing World Cup form.
McClaren denied that he was “sending out any statement”, but there were always going to be wider, symbolic implications. Having decided that he could do without Beckham in his starting XI, he took the decision to omit the player entirely and, in doing so, make a very clear break with the Sven-Göran Eriksson era.
“It was always going to be a difficult and big decision, but I felt it was one I had to make,” McClaren said. “It was the sort of conversation that happens in football quite a few times. Of course it was difficult because of the player David is and the working relationship we’ve always had over many years, the respect I’ve got for him and he’s got for me. Things do move on and that’s basically what I said and he accepted it.”
Beckham released a statement in which he claimed that “my passion for representing my country remains as strong as ever”, but he is not expecting to add to his 94 caps.
His absence inevitably overshadowed the selection of Dean Ashton, the West Ham United striker, and the omissions of David James and Sol Campbell in a squad that contains only one player, Gary Neville, over 30. Wayne Rooney, who has a groin injury, was also left out.
wtf ?!? why is this happenin??
we dont really get much indepth news about football here in the states so english natl. team fans respond to this.
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