Beckham ready for double duty
Sunday, 19 August 2007
NEW YORK, Aug 18(AFP): Football star David Beckham insisted again Friday that the long travel required for his international duty won't negatively affect his performance either for England or the Los Angeles Galaxy.
"I don't think it would affect my performance for my country nor the Galaxy," said Beckham, who joined the Major League Soccer club last month.
"I've handled the travelling pretty well so far. It's something that I've not being used to in my career. Playing in Europe, we've only had to travel an hour, two hours to play," he said.
The 32-year-old midfielder, in New York for the Galaxy's Saturday match with the New York Red Bulls, will travel to England Sunday to play against Germany in a friendly at Wembley Wednesday. He will then fly back the following day to Los Angeles for a game against Los Angeles rivals Chivas USA in the evening.
"I haven't done that since I was probably eight years, nine years old when we played games Saturdays and Sundays. It's definitely going to be difficult," Beckham admitted.
"Hopefully I can have some rest on the plane. Everybody knows I want to play as many games possible for England," he said.
Despite its friendly tag, Beckham said any match against Germany is serious business.
"I'm not sure any game at Wembley against Germany is a friendly," he said. "They're a great team. They've got great tradition. Last time we played them at Wembley, they beat us 1- 0," he added.
Beckham, who arrived Stateside nursing a left ankle injury and has therefore gotten off to a slow start in the MLS, scored his first goal for the Galaxy in their SuperLiga semi-final against DC United Wednesday, striking with a free kick in the 27th minute.
"I was a little tired after the game," he said. "My first training session was Tuesday and my first game was Wednesday. That's the first time I ran and kicked the ball like I wanted. Hopefully my ankle will hold up like it did. It felt good. It felt strong."
In Wednesday's match, Beckham took over as captain, a title previously held by US striker Landon Donovan.
"David and Landon had a discussion," Galaxy head coach Frank Yallop said. Landon was honoured to pass the captaincy to David who has earned the right to be captain at all the teams he's played on, including this one. It was a great gesture by Landon and greatly accepted by David."
"I don't think it would affect my performance for my country nor the Galaxy," said Beckham, who joined the Major League Soccer club last month.
"I've handled the travelling pretty well so far. It's something that I've not being used to in my career. Playing in Europe, we've only had to travel an hour, two hours to play," he said.
The 32-year-old midfielder, in New York for the Galaxy's Saturday match with the New York Red Bulls, will travel to England Sunday to play against Germany in a friendly at Wembley Wednesday. He will then fly back the following day to Los Angeles for a game against Los Angeles rivals Chivas USA in the evening.
"I haven't done that since I was probably eight years, nine years old when we played games Saturdays and Sundays. It's definitely going to be difficult," Beckham admitted.
"Hopefully I can have some rest on the plane. Everybody knows I want to play as many games possible for England," he said.
Despite its friendly tag, Beckham said any match against Germany is serious business.
"I'm not sure any game at Wembley against Germany is a friendly," he said. "They're a great team. They've got great tradition. Last time we played them at Wembley, they beat us 1- 0," he added.
Beckham, who arrived Stateside nursing a left ankle injury and has therefore gotten off to a slow start in the MLS, scored his first goal for the Galaxy in their SuperLiga semi-final against DC United Wednesday, striking with a free kick in the 27th minute.
"I was a little tired after the game," he said. "My first training session was Tuesday and my first game was Wednesday. That's the first time I ran and kicked the ball like I wanted. Hopefully my ankle will hold up like it did. It felt good. It felt strong."
In Wednesday's match, Beckham took over as captain, a title previously held by US striker Landon Donovan.
"David and Landon had a discussion," Galaxy head coach Frank Yallop said. Landon was honoured to pass the captaincy to David who has earned the right to be captain at all the teams he's played on, including this one. It was a great gesture by Landon and greatly accepted by David."