Sven: I'm willing to drop Becks

2006-06-23 08:02

Baden-Baden - England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson has insisted he would be prepared to axe captain David Beckham if it improved his team's chances of winning the World Cup.

Beckham, who will win his 93rd cap in Sunday's last 16 clash with Ecuador, has been way off his best throughout the first phase and was anonymous for most of England's faltering 2-2 draw with Sweden in their final Group A match.

The Real Madrid superstar contributed only 28 passes, around half as many as fellow midfielder Frank Lampard, and offered precious little in the way of an attacking threat down the right flank.

Eriksson's failure to substitute his skipper against the Swedes has once again given weight to the view that Beckham is an untouchable in the England manager's eyes.

However Eriksson insisted that he would not hesitate to drop or substitute his captain if the situation demanded it.

Asked if he could ever envisage hauling off Beckham in the way that Portugal coach Luis Felipe Scolari controversially replaced skipper Luis Figo at 2004, Eriksson was adamant he would.

"I'm prepared to do whatever I have to if I see things going wrong," he said. "Whatever."

Whilst making it clear that he has no intention of dropping Beckham from the starting line-up against Ecuador, Eriksson said his captain of five years should not take his place for granted.

Eriksson has never substituted Beckham for tactical reasons during a competitive fixture, and only replaced him against Sweden in the 2002 World Cup when he began to tire in his first match back from a long lay-off.

"I have taken off David Beckham before," Eriksson said. "I'm not married to David Beckham. He's the captain, but he's treated in all the same ways.

"At the dinner table, on the bus, on the pitch, training, matches - exactly the same as all the others.

"He doesn't have any favours just because he's the captain."

While Beckham has had a hand in two of the five goals England have scored in the World Cup so far and remains arguably the world's most accurate striker of a ball at set pieces, the 31-year-old has struggled to offer width out wide.

Blinding pace has never been one of Beckham's qualities, but his lack of pace was highlighted during the 2-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago last week, when the introduction of Tottenham's flying winger Aaron Lennon midway through the second half made an immediate impact.

On that occasion Beckham was shunted to right back in order to accommodate the 19-year-old supersub - and Eriksson admits it is something he would consider doing again if necessary.

"I could do that," Eriksson said when asked if Beckham could be played out of position. "Everything's possible."

AFP

- AFP