Just a week from his return to the Galaxy and a hair’s breadth from a fan’s assault, Becks is again pushing his luck. This time he wants to play Holland in a friendly. The match is awkwardly placed between important MLS encounters with New England and Seattle.
More power to him if he can pull this off and commit himself to the Galaxy but Bruce Arena is going to request him not to return for the friendly to be played in Amsterdam. It might fall on deaf years because Capello is not making any exceptions and considers participation in friendlies important for squad selection. At stake for Beckham is a place in next year’s World Cup and a chance to break Peter Shilton’s record of 125 national appearances.
Traveling thousands of miles at age 34 is different from appearing for internationals played hours away and when you are a decade younger. Recuperation time goes up. With Capello making a Europe return a pre-requisite and the Milan loan spell more than six months away, Becks has limited opportunities to shine. He may take a gamble and pull off an ‘energy efficient’ performance against the Revs to try and conserve his strength for the Holland friendly. He has to shake of fatigue and jet lag to play Seattle three days later.
England’s inevitability in qualifying for the World Cup opens up more opportunities. Capello might rest some starters and give Beckham substantial minutes which means that the month of September and October will be very busy for him when England meets Croatia, Ukraine, and Belarus in the final rounds.