England captain David Beckham will play his first match on home soil since joining Spanish champions Real Madrid when England take on Croatia in an international friendly at Portman Road on Wednesday.
It was feared England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson would omit Beckham after the midfielder suffered a minor back strain while playing in Real Madrid’s pre-season victory over Valencia at the weekend. However, Beckham was keen to be involved after being suspended in England’s last two games — against Slovakia and Serbia and Montenegro — and the midfielder wants to prepare for two crucial Euro 2004 qualifiers against Group Seven opponents Macedonia and Liechtenstein next month.
”Everyone knows it’s been a busy couple of weeks for me, but it’s important I get back playing for my country,” Beckham said.
”Whether it be a friendly or a qualifying game, it’s important for me to be here,” said Beckham, who joined the Spanish giants from English Premiership champions Manchester United for £25-million in June.
”I don’t think I will play a full game but I will be there. Fitness-wise I feel great. I felt a little bit tired on Monday but my fitness level is good. It’s always been quite good, so I don’t think I’ll have a problem.”
Beckham’s availability is good news for Eriksson, whose pre-match preparations have been scuppered by injuries to several defenders.
Fitness doubts over Arsenal’s Sol Campbell and Newcastle United’s Jonathan Woodgate meant the Swede was forced to hand a late call-up to Birmingham City centre-half Matthew Upson.
Manchester United utility player Phil Neville is expected to play at right-back after Owen Hargreaves failed to recover from a groin strain he picked up while playing for Bayern Munich at the weekend.
Liverpool keeper Chris Kirkland was given his first international call-up as Eriksson widens his search for a permanent successor to David Seaman.
If Kirkland proves he is fully recovered from a serious knee injury, then the 21-year-old might leapfrog West Ham’s David James and Leeds United’s Paul Robinson as first-choice shot-stopper.
England can expect a very different Croatian team to the one that dazzled opponents at Euro 96 with the sublime attacking talents of Alen Boksic, Robert Prosinecki, Davor Suker and Zvonimir Boban.
That golden generation helped Croatia reach the quarterfinals of Euro 96 and third place at the 1998 World Cup, where they lost to eventual champions France.
Croatia, however, suffered a humiliating first-round exit at the 2002 World Cup, where they defeated Italy only to lose to Ecuador and Mexico.
The embarrassing defeat to Ecuador led to a massive clearout and the defensively minded Otto Baric was hired to replace Mirko Jozic as coach. He immediately set about rebuilding an ageing side.
Under Baric’s stewardship, Croatia has learnt to rely more on the miserly defending of Serie A-based defenders Igor Tudor, of Juventus, and Inter Milan’s Dario Simic than on outscoring the opposition.
The solid rearguard has helped propel Croatia to second place in Group Eight of their Euro 2004 campaign where they trail leaders Bulgaria by just one point. — Sapa-AFP