Becks treating Australia match seriously
David Beckham insists England will treat tonight’s international with Australia at Upton Park just as seriously as if it were a Euro 2004 qualifying game.
Sven-Goran Eriksson is to field his first-choice side for only the opening 45 minutes, before sending out 17-year-old Wayne Rooney and a cluster of other youngsters for the second period.
That approach has led to claims that Eriksson is devaluing England caps – but it is partly the result of trying to appease leading club managers who do not want their star players to play the full 90 minutes in friendlies.
Beckham believes, though, that it is crucial those likely to play in the double-header with Liechtenstein and Turkey at the end of March put on a show after the disappointment of the 2-2 draw with Macedonia at St Mary’s in October.
He said: “Playing just the first 45 minutes is not ideal, and players want to play every minute of every game for club and country.
“Ideally the England team should play together more than we do.
“It’s nice when you’ve had a performance which was not up to scratch to be able to join up again and just get the bonding again – because we were disappointing against Macedonia.
“At this point of the season you can’t afford to play the full match on Wednesday with so many big games coming up, and we have to do what we are told.
“People turn around and say ‘Players are on so much money; you should be able to play two or three games a week’. In a way I agree with that, although there are a lot of matches crammed in these days.”
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the situation, Beckham will not be easing up against Australia.
“I certainly won’t be taking the game lightly,” he promised.
