 David Beckham made his England debut ten years ago |
England captain David Beckham has put any talk of international retirement on hold and wants to impress Sven-Goran Eriksson's replacement. The 30-year-old Real Madrid star wants to become the fifth England player to make more than 100 appearances, during the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.
Beckham, who has 86 caps, said: "Whatever happens, I want to show the new manager I'm worth my place.
"If I'm involved, I'll go over the 100-caps mark, which would be nice."
Beckham made his debut in Moldova in 1996 and only Peter Shilton, Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton and Billy Wright have more than 100 appearances.
 | ENGLAND'S MOST-CAPPED Peter Shilton (1970-90) 125 Bobby Moore (1962-73) 108 Bobby Charlton (1958-70) 106 Billy Wright (1946-59) 105 Bryan Robson (1980-91) 90 David Beckham (1996- ) 86 Kenny Sansom (1979-88) 86 Ray Wilkins (1976-86) 84 Gary Lineker (1984-92) 80 John Barnes (1983-95) 78 |
Beckham, who will be 31 in May, thinks Shilton's record may be beyond him and this summer might be his last opportunity to win the World Cup.
He said: "I'm not counting it down but it is a target I want to reach.
"I don't want to reach 100 and say, okay, I'll retire now.
"I'm not sure I'll get to Peter Shilton's record of 125 but you never know.
"I don't want to finish before Euro 2008 and I'd love to go on to the 2010 World Cup but I don't think that will happen because I will be 35 by then."
England's will take on Croatia, Russia, Israel, Estonia, Macedonia and Andorra in their Euro 2008 qualifying group.