England midfielder David Beckham has no intention of becoming a coach and is instead focusing on his recovery from an Achilles injury, which he has revealed is ahead of schedule. The 35-year-old’s dreams of participating in a fourth FIFA World Cup™ were shattered in March, when he sustained the injury while on loan to AC Milan from Los Angeles Galaxy.
However, Beckham was invited along to South Africa as part of Fabio Capello’s backroom staff and sat on the bench for what turned out to be a wretched campaign, which ended with 4-1 defeat by Germany in the Round of 16. It has been suggested the former Manchester United and Real Madrid player could take charge of the national side in future, but the free-kick specialist is not interested in such talk at this stage in his career and cannot foresee that changing down the line.
“I must admit it’s something I’ve never been interested in,” he said in a webchat with Yahoo. “It’s not a passion of mine to be a manager of a football team. I’m passionate about the game and being there, and obviously I was wearing the suit, so people have looked and thought I could be going into that.”
“I spoke to James (Milner), Shaun (Wright-Phillips), Aaron (Lennon)… all the right-sided players. I spoke to all the players. If there’s anything that needed saying from the manager of the players, that was kind of my role. I enjoyed that but, coaching-wise, I love coaching kids – that’s one of the reasons I have my academies – the children, I love seeing their faces when they’re kicking the ball around.
“I love the enthusiasm, the honesty – that’s one of the things I love doing. But coaching a team, being a manager, at this point in my career I don’t want to do that and in the future I don’t think that will happen either.”
As for his personal fitness, Beckham indicated in late April he may not play again until November, sparking fears he may miss the entire Major League Soccer season, which is due to end on the 21st of that month. However, he was seen kicking a ball in South Africa and admitted: “I was told off for that!”
Beckham is now aiming to be back in action by the start of September. “When I had the surgery, the surgeon gave me a schedule,” he explained. “I’ve got a week now before it’s four months and then I’m allowed to run, but I’ve been running for the last ten days. I’m ahead of schedule, it’s going well. I should be back in a month and a half.”
Becks blames players, not Capello
Meanwhile, Beckham has laid the blame for England’s dismal World Cup campaign squarely at the door of the players. “He (Capello) did everything that he could have done,” said the midfielder. “He prepared us right. He worked the players to the right amount and he set everything up for the players, but obviously the players know it was disappointing.
“We didn’t perform and as players you know that – you know when you don’t perform, you know when you don’t play well. The manager can do so much and then it’s down to the players. The players go on to the pitch and they know if they don’t perform, they don’t win games.
“The players are honest about that but it’s not about individuals, it’s not about how individuals play – it’s about how we played as a team. It’s a cliche but you win as a team and you lose as a team. You have to take the good days and enjoy those, and the bad days you learn from and the team will do that because we’ve got a lot of young players.”
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