Fabio Capello should take a chance with him
Rob Smyth tells the media to get a grip. Rightly so.
Beckham would have been a minor player. Even fully fit, he would have been an afterthought in Capello's scheme. But he is now officially the England mascot. It took a tendon rupture to figure that out.
The obsession with Beckham actually borders on the insulting. There are far more serious problems with where Rooney is going to get service. Capello's first choice- Aaron Lennon is two months away from full fitness. The other two candidates have desirable facets to their game but Theo Walcott's delivery remains his weakest link undoing all that monstrous pace and Shaun Wright Phillips could dribble all he wants and not release the ball.
Adam Johnson would have more of a shot. His performance this weekend should put him as a firm contender.
The 22 year old player produced a sublime goal to give Man City a draw against Sunderland after Tevez, Roque Santa Cruz, and Gareth Barry failed in their efforts. Their attack crystallized after he came on as a substitute and the match turned out to be an engrossing affair between two of the brightest talents on display in English football: Sunderland's Craig Gordon in goal and Johnson.
The match burst into animation with these two protagonists. And Johnson proved virtually unstoppable slicing his way past the Sunderland defense as Gordon came away with save after save. It took a quality goal (video) to finally breach the citadel. Few goalkeepers could have kept that out.
"That was thoughtful. He knew what he wanted to do and he did it perfectly. Well done Johnson, you added a bit of quality to a pale blue City side today."
Execution meet Adam Johnson.
Beckham is here to stay. Beckham is a symptom of modern culture where glitter is far precious than substance. Instead of cogently arguing about potential, and far more valuable replacements for Beckham, in England there is rubbish talk about his worth as a legend, his worth as an English icon, his worth as a worthy mascot. Not only is Rob Smyth correct but so are Brian Glanville and James Lawton about Beckham, the English poser. What George Best said of Pele can be said of Beckham. Were Beckham not blessed with such good looks, no one would have heard of him. Who, then, is Beckham? Beckham is the child of a footballing era when glitter hid the dross that was the England national football team. The first born child of the English golden generation, they called Beckham. Was it the golden generation? Or were some of us fooled into believe that England really did have a golden generation?