Post by Dinko on Jul 19, 2003 9:51:20 GMT
Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Beckham is Croatia friendly doubt
LONDON, July 16 (Reuters) - England captain David Beckham may miss the friendly against Croatia on August 20 to give him time to settle at his new club Real Madrid, England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson said on Wednesday.
Beckham: Settling at Real (GaryMPrior/GettyImages)
'We haven't made any decisions about David yet,' Eriksson said on the Football Association's website.
'But we'll see how things go for David and we'll make that decision just before we pick the squad.'
England will face Croatia at Ipswich Town's Portman Road ground in a warm-up for their Euro2004 qualifiers against Macedonia and Liechtenstein in September.
Beckham moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid on June 17 and is expected to make his Real debut during a tour of Asia early next month. Beckham missed England's last Euro 2004 qualifier against Slovakia in June because of suspension.
Eriksson said he would be interested to see whether new Real coach Carlos Queiroz plays Beckham in his usual position on the right of midfield or in a more central role.
'It will be very interesting of course to see what position he will play,' said Eriksson who added that he and his assistant coach would watch Beckham regularly next season in Spain.
'I don't need to see him every week, but Tord (Grip) and myself will travel to Madrid to see him.'