Becks backlash after deliberate foul

David Beckham could face action from FIFA following his amazing admission today that he deliberately provoked the referee into booking him during Saturday's World Cup qualifier against Wales.

The England captain misses tomorrow's game in Baku against Azerbaijan through suspension as a result of the yellow card.

Today however, he revealed that he knew he had damaged his ribs in a clash with Wales defender Ben Thatcher so, realising he would miss tomorrow's game through injury, set out to be booked so that he would be banned, wiping out the yellow card he had picked up in Austria.

The Football Association refused to be drawn publicly on the affair, but Beckham's admission is certain to attract interest from FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

He is almost certain to step into the row over Beckham's admission.

Blatter is in Azerbaijan to unveil a statue with Geoff Hurst for Tofiq Bakhramov, the Azeri linesman who confirmed Hurst's goal in the 1966 World Cup Final.

The FIFA president, an arch critic of the FA, will see Beckham's admission as a clear infringement of his campaign for "fair play" in football. FIFA, however, can only act following an official complaint, which is unlikely to emanate from the FA or England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, who has already said that the consolation in Beckham's booking was that it "cleaned up a yellow card".