Becks - Photo Paul Blank CCA
The Sun have been following Beckham closely in Milan as they endeavour to keep us up to date with the permutations of Fabio Capello’s squad for South Africa. And in an article that at least makes a change from the discussion of John Terry, they’ve picked up on the following from the weekend.
Sub Becks gives Cap plan a hitch
DAVID BECKHAM gave England boss Fabio Capello a World Cup headache after being dropped to the bench by AC Milan.
Becks came on as an 80th-minute substitute as Milan stuttered to a 0-0 draw away at Bologna.
Doesn’t sound like a big deal, but perhaps there’s a point coming up next which completely affirms all the effort which went into crafting this story?
He had started his four previous games.
Ah. Maybe not then. Sometimes top players don’t start every game, but given he has started the last four, it’s not worth reading too much into that just yet. Bigger concerns might be the likes of Theo Walcott, who’s only started four games for Arsenal all season. The general consensus, too, in the wake of the John Terry debacle, is that Capello’s knee (recently healed) is not prone to jerking, therefore this one-off appearance on the bench will not be cause, four months from the World Cup, for any changes to the World Cup squad. There’s simply no point writing that story.
Besides, one might have thought that playing the last ten minutes of a game would actually be rather good preparation for Beckham, given that’s about all he’s likely to do during the World Cup.
[...] especially culpable here. Framing the story around Beckham’s return is a bit rash given that only last week they were concerned that he’s fallen out of favour at Milan and may not even [...]