E-Paper
'I'm not married to Beckham'
England soccer coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has said that he was not afraid of axing team skipper David Beckham if he played badly.
England soccer coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has said that he was not afraid of axing team skipper David Beckham if he played badly.
Denying that he was extending a special treatment to Beckham, the coach said that he treated Beckham like any other player in the team.
"I am not married to David Beckham, even if you think I am. I'm not even engaged to him. I'm prepared to do whatever I need to do if I see things are going wrong. I will do whatever is required. It's the same with him as all the other players. He's the captain but he is treated the same as all the other players in every way - at the dinner table, on the bus, tactically, in training, in a match. Exactly the same as all the others. He doesn't have any favours just because he's the captain,” the Daily Mail quoted Sven as saying.
His comments come in the wake of suggestions that Beckham was his pet player who can do no wrong and was rarely substituted.
Beckham has played every minute of tournament football under Eriksson, apart from the opening game of the 2002 World Cup against Sweden. But Eriksson said: "I have taken David Beckham off before. Of course I will do it again. If I think he's not doing the job, yes.”
