Fifth Centurion Becks
Thursday, 27 March, 2008
David Beckham left the field after an hour to a standing ovation on the occasion of his 100th England appearance.
France 1-0 England
International Friendly
8pm, Wednesday 26 March 2008
Stade de France, Paris
Live on Sky Sports
David Beckham may not want to remember the result on the occasion of his 100th cap, but the enormity of his achievement must surely have started to sink in when he left the field to a standing ovation in the 62nd minute here in Paris.
After the game, Beckham stressed that he wanted to gain even more caps. "I am very honoured to have reached 100 caps," he said. "From when I started playing for England 11 years ago, I never dreamt that I would get to 100 and hopefully beyond.
"It is any footballer's dream to play for their country, never mind reach 100 caps."
Even French fans stood to applaud The Three Lions hero off the field after playing for more than an hour in the Stade de France on a night that England will otherwise be happy just to learn from.
When Beckham made his debut for the national team in September 1996 in Moldova, Theo Walcott – the youngest player of the current England squad – was only seven years old and still in Primary School.
That gives you some idea of the longevity of a player who has always given his all for his country no matter what the situation.
He did the same here again in France, although try as he might he couldn’t affect the game in the way he truly dreamed of.
It could have been different if after 15 minutes he had been able to slide just a few inches further and a few milliseconds faster onto the end of a low driven Ashley Cole cross.
And maybe if one of his early crosses or corners had bounced with more luck or if England could have won a free-kick in Beckham territory, the story could have had the kind of fairytale ending we all half expected.
But in the end it would be better to look back on a century of games to measure Beckham’s influence as an England hero than just to look at this match. And his achievement remains a stupendous one.
Only four other players in England football history have ever reached the same target – Billy Wright, Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore and record holder Peter Shilton.
It’s illustrious company and one day this summer, when the 2008-09 Football Yearbook is published, there will be a section there with five names in England’s Century Club.
"There have been highs, there have been lows. But there have been more highs. I am very honoured to be up there with Sir Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore, Billy Wright and Peter Shilton," Beckham added.
"I'm very proud tonight, I'm happy but I want to carry on. I was happy to start the game, but I don't want to stop. I'm very stubborn - I want to carry on playing for my country for as long as possible and hopefully I can.
"I proved my fitness tonight - and this is before the season has started. Fitness-wise I felt great - better than I actually thought I would. I felt fresh and sharp against some of the best players in the world."
France
23 Gregory Coupet, 3 Eric Abidal, 5 William Gallas, 5 Claude Makelele, 7 Florent Malouda, 8 Jeremy Toulalan, Francois Clerc, Lilian Thuram (c), 20 David Trezeguet (10 Sidney Govou 64), 22 Franck Ribery, 39 Nicolas Anelka
Subs not used 1 Mickael Landreau, 4 Philippe Mexes, 9 Djibril Cisse, 17 Sebastien Squillaci, 18 Alou Diarra, 21 Mathieu Flamini, 27 Patrice Evra
Goals
Ribery 32 pen
England
1 David James, 2 Wes Brown (13 Glen Johnson 63), 3 Ashley Cole, 4 Owen Hargreaves, 5 Rio Ferdinand (c), 6 John Terry (14 Joleon Lescott 46), 7 David Beckham (16 David Bentley 63), 8 Gareth Barry, 9 Wayne Rooney (18 Michael Owen 46), 10 Steven Gerrard (19 Peter Crouch 46), 11 Joe Cole (17 Stewart Downing 46)
Subs not used 12 Paul Robinson, 15 Wayne Bridge, 20 Theo Walcott, 21 Robert Green
Match Officials
Referee Florian Meyer (German)
Assistants Sonke Glindmann and Mark Borsch (Both German)