David Beckham cannot be faulted for his desire to play for his country, especially when like this week it was a totally meaningless friendly with Germany. However, it was fairly clear to anyone watching his performance at Wembley that the former England skipper is carrying an ankle injury, and it was therefore complete madness to play him, but that is what happened. The former United and Real star played the full game and despite his injury problems he played quite well too, creating chances for Lampard and Dyer to score as well crossing the ball well and spraying the passes across the Wembley turf.
No doubt given his commitment to play and after flying across the Atlantic to make the game, Steven McLaren felt it only fair to give him the full ninety minutes, but at some point someone has to start looking after Beckham's long term interests and playing with an injury will serve neither England or LA Galaxy well.
After the defeat to the Germans Beckham flew straight back to LA to play his part in another defeat, this time losing three nil to local rivals Chivas. Beckham hobbled through another ninety minutes.
It's hard enough playing at the highest level, but trying to do it with injuries and then flying across the pond to meet punishing schedules is complete madness.
Sooner or later events will overtake Beckham and injuries or loss of form will dictate his selection both at club and country level.
At this moment in time Beckham isn't doing Galaxy, England or himself justice. Given his total commitment to both club and country, it will be such a shame to see him crucified by the media if and when his injuries and the travelling takes their toll.
Thanks for the post i think this is a cool thought. I'm seeing this Beckham economy is getting nonsense. Please check out his impact at LA Galaxy website http://blog.compete.com/2007/08/21/beckham-mls-popularity/
ReplyDeleteWe can see he continue to make money for himself and thousand others. But, Beckham is human, he's richer than most others but he gets tired too.