zuricity wrote:Can somebody inform the losers at the BBC that it's over for Beckham ?
I can't believe they lead the World News this morning with a story about Beckham.
It's amazing that their website is posting stories about World Cup decisions being made by the specialist doctor tomorrow.
At least ten items about Beckham on their Football page, Finally perhaps just finally the media will give it a rest with Beckham
and his bloody wife.
I'm sorry to hear that Beckham got a very bad injury yesterday and that his career is now over but 'm not sorry to see that
'Beckham this ' and Beckham that ' (Every bleedin' week), will shortly be disappearing from the Media.
Fabio Capello has taken the unprecedented step of inviting David Beckham to travel with the England squad to the World Cup finals this summer and stay with the team as a non-playing member of the party during the tournament in South Africa.
Beckham's disappointment at being denied a fourth appearance at the World Cup finals by an achilles injury will be tempered slightly by the offer that was made by senior members of Capello's staff. Yesterday the former England captain, who is 35 in May, had surgery in Finland on the ruptured tendon he suffered on Sunday night while playing for Milan.
As yet the exact role to be played by Beckham as a non-playing member of the squad – should he accept the offer – remains unclear with this effectively uncharted territory. There is no precedent for taking an injured player with no chance of recovering his fitness to a World Cup finals. Yet the veteran, despite being restricted to a bit-part role under Capello in the last two years, remains highly regarded by the national team's coaching staff and, just as significantly, is recognised as a hugely important figure in terms of England's bid to host the 2018 finals.
The Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder was granted a high-profile role by the bid team at the World Cup draw in Cape Town last December and would potentially have opportunities to lobby for votes from the 24-man Fifa executive committee during the summer tournament. It remains to be seen whether LA Galaxy would be happy for him to continue his rehabilitation, which could stretch to six months, in South Africa at England's training base at the Royal Bafokeng sports campus outside Rustenburg. Or, indeed, whether the player himself would be willing to accept the role.
"We aren't ready to speculate when he would be ready to do things [for the bid] since our first thoughts are that he recovers," said the Football Association's chairman, Lord Triesman. "He is a huge asset to the bid; there is no question about that. He is very charismatic and an extremely decent person who will do all and anything to help his country."
Yesterday Beckham moved to dismiss fears that his playing career might be over and the specialist orthopaedic surgeon who conducted the 50-minute operation in Turku, Dr Sakari Orava, confirmed the procedure had been a success. The player anticipates being in a plaster cast for up to eight weeks with a further examination to be undertaken today ahead of the finalising of a rehabilitation programme. The midfielder is still intent upon fulfilling the final two seasons of his contract in Los Angeles.
Capello offered the midfielder yet more encouragement last night by suggesting he could have a role as a player in the build-up to Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine. "I hope he'll be fit for the Euros next autumn because he's always one of our best players," said Capello.
However, while he would never rule out playing for his country, Beckham is understood to have privately conceded that he may struggle to add to the 115 caps accrued over an impressive 14-year international career. Indeed, his priority at present is regaining fitness to resume his career in Major League Soccer. "This is not the end of David's playing career," said Beckham's agent, Simon Oliveira. "Even if David does miss the World Cup, he is aiming to play [with Los Angeles Galaxy] towards the end of the Major League Soccer season. David is a quick healer. He hopes to make a swift and full recovery."
Beckham suffered the injury two minutes from time in Milan's 1-0 victory over Chievo in San Siro on Sunday, pulling up in the centre circle with no opposing player around him. He hobbled to the sidelines where he crumpled to the turf and, after five minutes of treatment, was eventually carried back into the dressing rooms in tears on a stretcher. Capello and his general manager, Franco Baldini, contacted him on Sunday evening to offer their commiserations. "David is a great professional and has worked very hard to be ready for the World Cup," said Capello. "So missing it will be a big blow."
The surgeon, Dr Orava, said that Beckham's achilles was "totally torn" but he did at least offer an optimistic prognosis of the veteran's recovery after surgery at the Mehilainen clinic. "So far everything is fine," said Dr Orava. "The operation went smoothly and nicely. I don't think there's any chance for the World Cup as healing takes a long time. But, usually, a player will recover fully. It's a total tear of the tendon. If there is any weakness then a graft can be taken from the calf and put over the injury site to make it stronger. This kind of procedure is planned.
"Top athletes usually heal well but it's a few months until you are back at the same level as you were before. It will take three to four months before one is able to do light playing again and maybe another month more to kick and jump at his best. Today we allow patients to do motion earlier than before. In this case we try to get motion back as soon as possible.
"Over that first month you shift from light training to harder training in the second month. After that one is usually able to walk and maybe start running lightly. All this depends upon the type of tear. But I don't think it is a big difference to be aged 25 or 35. It will be three, four, five months. Most of these patients come back at the same level, even in a top soccer player."
Capello is more confident that England's other long-term absentee, the Tottenham Hotspur winger Aaron Lennon, will be back to fitness ahead of the squad's departure for South Africa. The midfielder has not played since the end of December, having been troubled by a groin complaint, but the England camp expect the player to be back in contention for a return at his club next month.
