Tournament blog

Becks and heartbreak

As David Beckham recovers from an injury that will keep him out of a record breaking 4th consecutive World Cup the frailties of football were cruelly exposed this week.

For a man that has everything, being selected for England at the World Cup really would have been a money cannot buy item to add to his glittering scrapbook.

Every time a major championship comes round someone recovers from injury just in time, misses out whether through non selection or injury or makes the finals and suffers a major injury – memories of Bryan Robson’s shoulder in 1986, Paul Gascoigne’s tantrum in 1998, Michael Owens’s knee in 2006, Wayne Rooney’s metatarsal in 2006 and David Beckham’s own metatarsal in 2002 come flooding back in all of the above categories.

For the England Blind players there will be similar heartache. It won’t get on the front and back page of the papers nor will it feature on a constant loop on the news channels but some will undoubtedly go through the heartbreak of not being able to represent their country in a World Cup on home soil. The team management will need to whittle the players down to the final squad of ten, which will include the two sighted goalkeepers.

Injury, form and fate will aid their decision making process and the majority of the current squad will make the cut.

Whilst on a slightly different scale the players selected will be able to cash in on the money cannot prize of playing in a World Cup in England, something that will always elude David Beckham.

Posted by Jon Dutton on 17-03-2010

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