Beleaguered Beckham vows to deliver

Today evening, David Beckham will lead his troops against Ecuador to fight for a place in the quarter finals. On paper, England should win. In reality however, Ecuador is not an easy pushover.

England will be looking up to senior players like Beckham to provide the goods today. As it is he has come under severe criticism in the British media for his performances in the group stages. British media commentators have singled out Beckham for England’s poor play so far in the World Cup.

Some point out that his work rate is inadequate while others question his leadership qualities, especially when England is directionless and under pressure from the opponents (as in the Swedish match). One even labeled him as more of a con than an icon.

Statistically, in the Sweden game, Beckham, playing in the right side of midfield, made just eight successful forward passes. In the second half, he made two – one of which didn’t make the halfway line.

As mentioned by a British media pundit, in the 90 minutes, Beckham made no tackles, had no shots, no dribbles and made two crosses. And he was at fault for the first Swedish goal for not picking up his man at the corner.

Yet despite this, he was never a candidate for substitution. England could have had better penetration through the right flank with the introduction of fresh-legged Aaron Lennon but Sven Goran Erikkson persevered with his captain.

Many would have noticed that Sven is not one to substitute his captain. Even in the Trinidad and Tobago game when he brought on Lennon to play in the right wing, it was not to replace Beckham but Jamie Carragher, who was playing as a right back. Where did he move Beckham then? Yup, to the right back position.

There were also reports of a training ground bust-up between Beckham and Steven Gerrard over the former’s penchant of kicking the ball up, thus by-passing the midfield. Interestingly while both the players have been quiet about this report, the FA had denied it.

Many pundits see Sven’s special relationship with Beckham as the reason for the coach still playing the midfielder no matter how badly he plays. Naturally both Sven and Beckham denied this special relationship.

Beckham has also reacted angrily to the negative reports about his game. He pointed out that he was man-marked by at least two players in the earlier matches but promised to raise his game as well as his teammates in defeating Ecuador today.

And above all, he still insists that he can lead England to win the World Cup this year. We will know how far they can go by watching their performance against Ecuador.