Sorry non sport fans but im sure you’ll find something in here for you. Did you watch England’s footballing lesson in Spain on Wednesday? History will not remember the game itself, but only for the moment when David Beckham equalled Bobby Moore’s record of 108 caps. The press seem to be obsessed with the amount of caps a player receives, especially a player of Beckham’s stature. Comparisons between the two former England captains have been made, is Beckham worthy of passing Moore’s record? Has he won a number of meaningless caps recently by coming on as a late substitute?
My own view is that directly comparing the two is pointless as the eras and positions in which both played are vastly different, but by highlighting a few career facts we can make a better judgment.
The image of Moore lifting the Jules Rimet Trophy in 1966 rates as the greatest achievement by any Englishman in the history of football. In fact Moore was excellent during his three World Cups; the great Pele swapped his shirt with Moore at the end of their group match in Mexico ’70 as a mark of respect for his performance.
Beckham has never really performed in an equalling 3 World Cups, mainly due to injury, red cards or individual mistakes. His inclusion in the 2002 World Cup does question the then manager Sven Goren Erickson who picked a clearly unfit Beckham which contributed to England’s exit. In the sweltering heat of Shizuoka, a suffering Beckham jumped out of a tackle to save his recovering metatarsal injury which led to Rivaldo’s equaliser. During Euro 2004 Beckham’s normal dead ball expertise let him down when missing crucial penalties against France and in the shoot-out defeat with Portugal.
Beckham did provide Moore-esc moments to his career, especially his dignified resignation of the England captaincy and the way he has set about trying to regain his England place there-on after. Beckham’s exemplary behaviour off the field both personally and as England captain has to be respected as is Beckham by football fans around the world. He was treated like a pop star during the 2002 World Cup in Japan and was given a standing ovation when being substituted when winning his 100th cap in a friendly defeat in the hostile Stade de France.
The two can never be compared, but they both should be equally admired as great England captains. The late Bobby Moore; the gentleman of football. David Beckham; the great ambassador under the spotlight. Oh and the argument that Beckham is winning caps for nothing by coming on late as a substitute, for the record, Beckham started 99 times out of his 108 caps.
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