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Beckham vows to play on after winning 100th cap
David Beckham does not want it to be 100 and out after racking up a century of England caps in tonight's 1-0 defeat by France in Paris.
The midfielder started the match on the right side of midfield and put in some
trademark crosses before he was replaced by David Bentley in the second half and
came off to a standing ovation.
'I'm very honoured,' Beckham told Sky Sports 1. 'Straight from when I
started playing for England I never dreamed I'd get 100 caps, and hopefully
beyond.
'I'm happy but like I said during the week I want to carry on. Of course
things can change but I want to carry on playing for my country.'
This was the Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder's first competitive match of the
year because Major League Soccer is still in the off-season, and Beckham was
pleased with his showing after being omitted from the squad for Fabio Capello's
first match against Switzerland.
'I've proved my fitness, that's the biggest thing,' he added. 'We're not
into our season yet but I felt great, I felt a lot better than I thought I
would.'
The 32-year-old is now only eight caps short of World Cup-winning captain
Bobby Moore, who holds the record for most appearances by an outfield player.
Beckham, though, claimed his focus is not on trying to beat Moore, saying:
'Just to go over the 100 mark is a proud moment.
'To be up there with Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton, Billy Wright and Peter
Shilton, I'm honoured to be in that company.'
Capello was pleased by the way his side played.
'I'm actually quite happy because I have seen improvements,' he added on Sky
Sports 1.
'We played against a top-level team and I think we did well.'
As for why he was so pleased, the Italian said: 'The way we played, we didn't
let the opposition play too much and especially, the way we played with
personality.
'We did especially well in the first half, but unfortunately we conceded the
penalty, the goal.'
Asked about James' culpability for the goal, Capello said on Sky Sports 1: 'I
didn't see it clearly but I don't think he could have done better.'
As for his substitutions, Capello said they were not prompted by individual
performances.
'No, I need to see all the players play, especially in real matches like
this, to get a clear idea of what to do when the World Cup qualifying campaign
starts.'
As for Beckham, the Italian said: 'Yes I saw him well, he was fit and could
have carried on playing. I subbed him because I needed to see other players as
well.'
Captain for the night Rio Ferdinand admitted the result was not the ideal way to
cap off his big match.
'It's disappointing but I think it's more about the team,' the Manchester
United defender said on Sky Sports 1.
'You could say we took a stride forward in certain areas; the players were
not scared to get on the ball, we were passing it very well at times - maybe
without creating many openings but I'm sure that will come.
'I'm disappointed because I'm very honoured to be captain but it would have
been nice to have got a win.'
Ferdinand added: 'There was no prouder man on the planet today, leading my
country out, but it's not about personal accolades, it's about the team and
today we didn't get the result we wanted.'
Original story from ESPN_Soccernet.
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