Fabio Capello confirmed intentions to pick David Beckham for the World Cup finals in South Africa
Last updated 13/01/2010 13:06:23
David Beckham picked for the World Cup finals in South Africa
England manager Fabio Capello confirmed his intentions to pick David Beckham for the World Cup finals in South Africa this summer when he travelled to Milan to watch the veteran play his first match of the year.
Beckham, on loan from the American club LA Galaxy, enjoyed a winning return and an excellent performance, to the AC Milan side as they outgunned Genoa 5-2 at the San Siro.
Beckham impressed on the right side of a three-man attack in his first game since beginning his second loan spell with the Italian club.
"I was happy with the game and happy with the win and it's just great to be back," Beckham, 34, said, "It's important that I work hard and perform well and I felt that I did that, but it's just one game."
Injuries to Alexandre Pato and Clarence Seedorf meant Beckham played further forward than is usual in his twilight years.
"That is the synthesis of what he is about. He has an absolute willingness to help," said Milan coach Leonardo, "He had a week where we tried him in every role. He has extraordinary quality and tactical intelligence."
Something his critics in England clearly fail to see. He is far more than a free kick specialist.
It was not until after the match that Beckham discovered that Capello had returned to his former club to check the player's progress as he plans his strategy for the World Cup.
"I didn't know he was there, I only found out afterwards," Beckham added, "But he loves football and he'll go to every game possible. Obviously being in Italy over Christmas, he was able to come to this game."
But, for a while, it threatened to be a disaster as Ronaldinho had an early penalty saved and then Genoa went ahead on 25 minutes but by half time Milan were 2-1 and on the way.
Leonardo's side ran riot in the second half to keep the gap between them and leaders Inter Milan at eight points.
Beckham was soon spraying the ball around and after setting up an early opportunity it was a trademark sweeping pass from Beckham which led to Milan's second penalty of the game, allowing Ronaldinho to make up for his earlier weak effort with an emphatic spot-kick to make it 1-1.
All that was missing was for Beckham to score a goal to cap his return, and he appeared to be one of the candidates to take Milan's third penalty of the game in the 74th minute - won by Ronaldinho.
However, substitute Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who has struggled for confidence since his arrival at the San Siro, eventually took it and drove his spot-kick high into the net to complete the scoring for Milan.
A minute later, a smiling Beckham came off to a rousing reception from the home fans.
"No, I didn't desperately want to take it," said Beckham of the third penalty, "To be honest, I think it's always important that the penalty taker always takes the penalties and that's why I gave the ball back to Ronaldinho. "But then he gave it to Klaas and he took it, but it's not important."
AC Milan are still eight points behind leader Inter Milan, but with a game in hand with Jose Mourinho's side earlier grinding out a 1-0 over Chievo, thanks to a goal by Mario Balotelli.
But the game was overshadowed by an injury to Inter defender Cristian Chivu, who suffered a fractured skull in a clash of heads. The Romanian spent nearly an hour in surgery to relieve a haematoma and take out bone fragments but the club are optimistic he will make a full recovery.
"Everything went normally and therefore we are quite confident the patient can recover without problems," Dr. Sergio Turazzi said in a statement.
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