David Beckham (AFP Photo / Ian Kington)
Beckham breaks England’s appearance record
Published 29 March, 2009, 12:54
David Beckham has surpassed record holder Bobby Moore by appearing in his 109th match for England in a friendly against Slovakia on Saturday.
England’s coach Fabio Capello put the 33-year-old on the pitch of London’s Wembley stadium at the start of the second half.
England were ahead 1-0 at that stage thanks to a goal from Emile Heskey, and they added three more after the break.
Beckham himself set up Wayne Rooney for the second goal of the game, Frank Lampard added another, and Rooney struck again in stoppage time to settle the final score, 4-0.
The next target for Becks will be overtaking retired goalkeeper Peter Shilton, who has 125 caps for England.
"The target is just to play, be involved in every game possible. Of course I've already said I'd love to play in another World Cup – or two! But we'll have to wait and see. That's a long way away at the moment, and there's a lot of games leading up to that," AFP news agency reported Beckham as saying.
Beckham has prolonged his international career by joining AC Milan on an extended loan from the Los Angeles Galaxy. He will return to the U.S. in June for the second half of the Major League Soccer season before rejoining Milan in November.
Bobby Moore earned his 108 caps playing for England during 1962 – 1973 and was the captain of the team that won the World Cup in 1966.
Beckham made his first- ever appearance for England in September 1996 in a World Cup qualifier match against Moldova. He later became the team’s captain and spent 58 games in this role.
The AC Milan midfielder scored 17 goals for the national team and became the first English player to grab goals at three World Cups.
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