Beckham’s Injured… Engliand Says "Oh, No!"

In the home-match with Deportivo La Coruna (Spain) in the final 8 of European Champions Cup on the 11th, Beckham was injured in the 16th minute, as Argentine-affiliated midfielder Pedro Duscher tackled to break his left foot. He may miss the World Cup.

This event drew dark clouds upon England, because the English team is included in so-called `deadly group`, Group F, with Argentina, Nigeria, and Sweden in the 2002 World Cup.

Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson said, “Beckham is likely to be sidelined for 6 – 8 weeks. He is doubtful for the World Cup.”

For Beckham, it was the moment that blew away all his efforts to overcome his `flaws` for the past 4 years. All his passion as the captain put England on the World Cup finals under the command of coach Sven Goran Eriksson, a Swedish, but everything burst like a bubble now.

It was a big shock to the English fans too, because they had great expectations on him, who led the team in beating Germany by 5-1 in the preliminaries and beat Greece in loss-time at the last preliminary match.

“I feel sorry for Beckham. He might miss the World Cup finals, which would be the peak of his career,” said coach Eriksson upon hearing the news of his injury.

England and Argentina are `eternal rivals`, having the enemy-relationship since the Falkland Islands War in 1982. Especially, although England won the war, Argentina always beat England in World Cups.

England was defeated in 1986 Mexico World Cup’s quarterfinals by 1-2 before Maradona’s `genius play`, and also had to step down from the final 16 in 1998 France World Cup. So, it was just waiting to redeem its honor in this World Cup.

Meanwhile, `injury alert` is declared on each nation’s soccer stars with only 50 days left until the World Cup, as Beckham’s injury followed France’s Pires, and Argentina’s playmaker Veron and Costa Rica’s Wanchope are also doubtful for the World Cup due to injury.

Yang yjongk@donga.com