Beckham's heart survives the test

Ian Chadband13 April 2012
Albania 1 England 3

Before he was first handed the captain's armband, David Beckham appeared to doubt his credentials for the job. Was he equipped to fill that role, people asked him, and he would respond in a manner which persuaded us that he honestly was not sure.

Yet after helping steer England through this World Cup minefield here in Tirana with another considerable effort, Beckham stood outside the Qemal Stafa stadium and pondered how five testing days had helped convince him. Yes, he said, now he really did believe he was a natural leader.

This had not been a night when he provided a moment of inspirational quality in the manner of Anfield on Saturday but it was a night when he demonstrated that real character and tireless determination could do as much to help England prevail. For do not underestimate what an intimidating trial his team had negotiated here.

It may only have been Albania, you could say, but it all had the crazed feel of 11 men facing an entire desperate nation. Not so much a football match as a happening.

When you reflect on how disjointed and inept England were for long periods, imagine how it might have felt to enter a den where, amid the flares and the frenzied din, you could look up and see police snipers on surrounding rooftops and riot-shielded officers flanking the pitch.

Imagine the distractions of dodging flying stones, bottles and cigarette lighters, one of which was to leave Ashley Cole with a bloody souvenir of his England debut. Then imagine how Beckham felt, being the most deafening target of all the hate each time he touched the ball. Yet on a night never meant for faint hearts, his was perhaps the stoutest.

"I think I'm getting stronger as a captain and getting much more comfortable with the role now," he could reflect with justifiable satisfaction. "There had be more authority coming from me because as England captain, you've got to take charge and show some sort of responsibility out there. I think I'm now doing that more than I did last year.

"When I said I wasn't a natural leader, it was because I'd never done the job before and I realised it might take me a bit of time to get into it. But I knew I could step into it and eventually do a good job."

For the moment, he is. Watching the way he handled the spotlight here, which by the evidence of three faintly unreal days in Tirana just gets more oppressive wherever he globetrots, it was hard not to be impressed. Not only by the example he set last night but also by his conscious effort to front an equally important charm offensive in the eve-of-game training session attended by hundreds of Albanian fans.

"I think people out here don't see a lot of so-called stars and you have to appreciate what it means to them," Beckham said. "So many of them were excited because they'd seen us on the television and you have to try to put something back."

So Sven-Goran Eriksson may now be convinced Beckham is made of the right stuff for the lieutenant's job. Yet whether it was an inspired decision or merely good fortune, who could say?

Because after seeing England stumble over a wall which for 73 minutes they had run into blindly, another thought kept nagging away.

Yes, we know all about Eriksson's serenity, calmness, organisation and so on, but could it be that his most priceless quality may yet turn out to be that he is simply blessed with being a lucky so-and-so?

Kevin Keegan was supposed to have been a lucky manager but, when only five minutes away from the Euro 2000 quarter-finals, Phil Neville's blunder against Romania showed he was not. Yet Eriksson has now presided over two performances not particularly dissimilar to the uneven stuff served up under Keegan, and comes away smiling.

What if David Seaman had not saved the day so spectacularly in the dying seconds on Saturday? What if Altin Rraklli's goal, which would have made it 2-2 in the 92nd minute, had not been ruled out for offside last night?

Idle thoughts, maybe, but the dice does seem to be rolling kindly for our Swede.

Put this "lucky man" theory to his players, mind, and you will get short shrift. Luck, they say, does not enter into it because so far Eriksson has been only been rewarded for creating a fresh spirit in a more adventurous, youthful-looking squad.

Maybe his coolness rubs off, too, because there is less likelihood of panic if you have Sergeant Wilson giving the instructions rather than Corporal Jones.

Let us give him the benefit of the doubt because most of his decisions, some daring, have borne fruit. He chucked a raw 20-year-old, Arsenal's Cole, into the frying pan and his boldness was repaid with a promising glimpse of the future.

When Andy Cole was being widely derided, Eriksson stuck by him and, after a first England goal in six years of trying, he now has a striker who should no longer be hamstrung by self-doubt.

Eriksson has made his total faith in Michael Owen's gifts abundantly clear and so the boy cannot stop scoring for him. Yet he has not been afraid to ditch an under-performing luminary, as Steve McManaman, who once again so maddeningly resembled English football's equivalent of Graeme Hick, discovered.

Most significantly of all, could it be that his trust in Beckham, not only as a player but as a leader, has begun to release a new purpose and authority into a player who had so often previously delivered less for the three lions than he had promised? We should be so lucky.

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