David Beckham's England Career is Not Over

At around 1900 GMT this evening Fabio Capello will announce a 23 man squad for England's friendly against Germany. One man almost certain not to be in that squad is David Beckham. The one-time England captain has the chance to equal Bobby Moore's record of 108 caps for an outfield player if he's called up, but he won't be. Never fear, Becks' chance will come again, even at the age of 33. Fabio Capello has, quite rightly, said that players will only play for the national side if they're playing for their club sides, and Beckham has not played since October 26. However, I expect the midfielder to break Bobby Moore's record and add a few more before he's totally discarded by Capello. He's off on loan to AC Milan in January, which will do him the world of good, and I think, will be the perfect kind of game for him. With Gattuso and Pirlo doing the hard work in the middle of the park, Becks can concentrate on feeding the likes of Shevchenko, Ronaldinho and Pato. There is no one in the current England set up that can cross a ball like Beckham, this talk of David Bentley being his natural successor is nonsense, the Spurs winger is just not good enough at the moment, his delivery is, for the most part, poor. And little Theo Walcott is a totally different player to Beckham. So never fear Beckham fans, (among whom I count myself) Becks will be back in the new year, he may even surprise everyone and get a call up this weekend. Speculation surrounds the fate of David James, and whether he'll make another squad as Capello looks to the future, but, in my opinion, with Ben Foster not being used at Man United (save the Champions League game at Celtic Park) James is the best keeper around at the moment. The tabloids have today said that Wolves youngster Michael Mancienne is going to get a call up, hopefully Capello will be a bit sensible and see that a teenager plying his trade in the Championship is not ready for an international debut - it would certainly say a lot about Premiership defenders! For what it's worth, this would be my 23:

Goalkeepers:
David James (Portsmouth)
Robert Green (West Ham)
Joe Hart (Man City)

Defenders:
Rio Ferdinand (Man United)
John Terry (Chelsea)
Jonathan Woodgate (Tottenham)
David Wheater (Middlesborough)
Gary Neville (Man United)
Micah Richards (Man City)
Ashley Cole (Chelsea)
Wayne Bridge (Chelsea)

Midfielders:
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool)
Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
Theo Walcott (Arsenal)
Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham)
Shaun Wright-Phillips (Man City)
Gareth Barry (Aston Villa)
Ashley Young (Aston Villa)
Stewart Downing (Middlesborough)

Forwards:
Wayne Rooney (Man United)
Darren Bent (Tottenham)
Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa)
Peter Crouch (Portsmouth)

So there you have it, feel free to post your amendments and ask why I've made glaring errors (I'm sure I have) but I feel that Huddlestone and Bent have to get back in the squad on form alone, and Gary Neville, when fit, is the best right back in the country. Peter Crouch is there purely because a big man is needed.
As i've finished writing this, England have lost in the semi finals of the Rugby League World Cup against New Zealand. It's a bizarre tournament where you can get to the semi finals by only winning one game. Andy Murray is in Masters Cup tennis action today, he's the form player in the world right now, I'm confident he can roll Davydenko over, presuming tiredness doesn't get the better of him. England are in rugby union action today against Australia, Steve Borthwick's talk of playing with the backs as much as possible today is, I presume, a bit of gamesmanship. England are so dominant against the Aussies in the scrum that that's got to be how it's played again today. If you're in sporting action this week, good luck. Check back for more comment and some uni sport this coming week.

Thanks

Ben