The joy of Becks
Wednesday, 14 October, 2009
Midfielder glad to end campaign with a victory.
England's David Beckham helped the Three Lions back to winning ways at Wembley, after seeing the team suffer their first defeat of the World Cup qualifying campaign in Ukraine at the weekend.
The midfielder was introduced as a second half substitute by Fabio Capello and he admitted he was just happy to have helped the team to win in front of the home supporters.
“The most important thing was to get over the weekend loss and end the qualifying campaign on a high," he said.
“We didn’t play badly at the weekend so wanted to end by showing just how well we can play. It was an important night for the management, the staff, the players and the fans – we have all done our job.
”We all have to prove ourselves in every game and training session if we want to be in the team and squad for every game - whether it is a friendly, qualifier or the World Cup.”
The LA Galaxy man was also named as the Nationwide Man Of The Match, picked by Sunderland boss and Beckham's former Manchester United team-mate Steve Bruce. Given he was only introduced shortly before the hour mark, it came as something of a surprise to many in the stadium, including Beckham himself.
“I’m very surprised," he laughed. "I’m glad that I played with Steve Bruce for so many years!"