Capello leaves door ajar for Beckham recall

FABIO Capello insists he has not closed the door on David Beckham after the midfielder was left out of the England manager's first squad.

Capello's 30-man provisional squad to face Switzerland on Wednesday was notable more by Beckham's absence rather than the naming of Aston Villa's striker Gabriel Agbonlahor and defender Curtis Davies in a senior England set-up for the first time.

Beckham, who has 99 caps, was informed of the decision in a telephone call from Capello, but was reassured it was not a case of being dropped in the way that Steve McClaren initially dispensed of his services. The 32-year-old was desperately disappointed, but still strongly believes he can pass the 100-cap mark.

That hope certainly wasn't dampened by Capello himself, who said: "I know there has been a lot of discussion about David Beckham. The reason that David is not in the squad is because he has not had any real match practice since playing in November.

"When I spoke with David on the phone yesterday I advised him that he is still part of my plans and once he is playing regularly in America we will look closely at him again."

There had been speculation that Michael Owen's woeful form for Newcastle could cost him inclusion in an England squad for the first time since 1998, but he was named as one of the strikers, though there will be a sweaty couple of days for the 28-year-old before Capello names his final 23 on Saturday evening.

Certainly Capello has one eye on the future, hence the inclusion of Agbonlahor and Davies. The pair are among five Aston Villa players in his selection along with Ashley Young – who should certainly make the final 23 – Gareth Barry and goalkeeper Scott Carson.

Wigan's Emile Heskey, Liverpool's Peter Crouch and Manchester United's Wayne Rooney are the other strikers, while Capello has named 12 defenders. Apart from the usual names there are call-ups for West Ham's Matthew Upson, Portsmouth's Glen Johnson and Jonathan Woodgate, who has just signed for Tottenham. Paul Robinson has been omitted, not surprising given the man who was England's No 1 for three years has been dropped by Tottenham.

Other hopefuls overlooked this time include Aaron Lennon, Theo Walcott, Middlesbrough's David Wheater and Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart, because Capello believes they are needed for the England Under-21s' qualification game against the Republic of Ireland.

He said: "We will use the time between now and our first World Cup qualifying match in September to look at the players and find the best formula for the England team. I will also look at players who have not been included in the squad this time.

"I have also worked very closely with Stuart Pearce on squad selection and there are some players who are with the under-21s this time because they have a very important qualification game. In the future these are players that could feature in the senior squad."

Capello and his assistant, Franco Baldini, have watched as many games as possible since they arrived in England. Capello added: "I have selected a squad of 30 players as I think it is important that all the players are equal from the beginning.

"There are a lot of games before we join up and I think it is better that we are prepared for any injuries. This way we are not expecting to call players up as late replacements."

England Under-21 manager Pearce, who has been asked by Capello to work as part of his coaching team, said he was sure Beckham would fight for his 100th cap.

Pearce said: "He's picked a squad that doesn't involve one individual. That individual has to fight tooth and nail to get back in that squad. I'm sure David has enough about him – he's shown it in the past – that he'll fight to try to win that next cap."

CAPELLO'S FIRST SQUAD

England provisional squad for the friendly against Switzerland on Wednesday, 6 February:

• S Carson (Aston Villa)
• D James (Portsmouth)
• C Kirkland (Wigan)
• W Bridge (Chelsea)
• W Brown (Manchester Utd)
• A Cole (Chelsea)
• C Davies (Aston Villa)
• R Ferdinand (Manchester Utd)
• G Johnson (Portsmouth)
• L King (Tottenham)
• J Lescott (Everton)
• M Richards (Manchester City)
• N Shorey (Reading)
• M Upson (West Ham)
• J Woodgate (Tottenham)
• G Barry (Aston Villa)
• D Bentley (Blackburn)
• M Carrick (Manchester Utd)
• J Cole (Chelsea)
• S Downing (Middlesbrough)
• S Gerrard (Liverpool)
• O Hargreaves (Manchester Utd)
• J Jenas (Tottenham)
• S Wright-Phillips (Chelsea)
• A Young (Aston Villa)
• G Agbonlahor (Aston Villa)
• P Crouch (Liverpool)
• E Heskey (Wigan)
• M Owen (Newcastle)
• W Rooney (Manchester Utd)

Memorabilia sellers will have to wait as Italian's selection refuses to play to galleries

FRANK MALLEY

SO A NEW chapter begins for England football with the Wembley programme makers in need of a hasty rewrite. David Beckham will not win his 100th cap against Switzerland after all. And it must have been the easiest decision of manager Fabio Capello's footballing career.

The Football Association would have loved to have paraded their most prolific seller of shirts, tickets and memorabilia at the new Wembley on 6 February and kick-started Capello's reign in a whirl of till-jangling emotion. A more compliant character than Capello might have gone along with a showpiece occasion for a former captain and England's most famous footballer.

But it would have been wrong. The England shirt is not something to be won by sentiment. It must be earned by sweat and determination and constant demonstration of talent.

Much better that Capello phoned Beckham as he did and explained that while he was still part of his plans he could not pick a player who has not played since last November, especially when even that was against a team of Hollywood celebrities.

No doubt Beckham, who has argued he is "fit and sharp and ready to be selected" will feel aggrieved as well as disappointed, as will many supporters. But what sort of football manager would Capello be if he picked Beckham on what he told him rather than what he saw.

The truth is Capello this past fortnight has seen Beckham flying off to Africa on an ambassadorial jaunt and playing keepie-uppie on the beach in Brazil as he opened another of his soccer academies. Both worthy causes.

Yet the thought is that a man who has lived by image just might have perished by image.

How could Capello have picked a man jet-setting around the world in the middle of his own close season? What sort of message would that have given to Shaun Wright-Phillips and David Bentley, right-sided players producing brilliant performances week in and week out?

It would have said that nothing had changed. That Capello was in thrall to celebrity and ego just like Sven-Goran Eriksson, and to a lesser extent Steve McClaren, before him.

Instead, Capello has treated Beckham fairly. He has not dismissed him, as McClaren did when he took over in a fit of posturing, as a 'casualty' of a new era. He has told him he remains in his plans for the future if he proves his fitness and form with Los Angeles Galaxy when the MLS season gets under way in February.

That is shrewd and canny. At a stroke Capello sends the right message to those in and out of his first squad.

And there is no reason why Beckham should not still win his 100th cap in the future. After all, he has been dropped before by Capello at Real Madrid only to prove the manager wrong and return.

He still has an unquenchable thirst to wear the shirt with Three Lions and is still by some distance the best crosser and deliverer of a football in England, perhaps the world, although Cristiano Ronaldo might argue that point when it comes to free kicks.

There are unlikely to be many occasions when he plays a full 90 minutes and the days are gone when he could run a match in the manner of his World Cup qualifying performance against Greece at Old Trafford in 2001 which guaranteed England's place.

But as an impact player who could influence England's route to South Africa in 2010 Capello would be foolish to jettison him.

The 100th cap could still come, but only when Beckham deserves it.