Hargreaves in pole position to step into limelight

14 April 2012

Sven-Goran Eriksson must decide tonight who will be given the heavy responsibility of demonstrating that there is indeed life after David Beckham. Beckham's absence has provided an opportunity for someone else to prove their worth and demonstrate that England are still capable of taking positive steps even without their troubled captain.

Whoever takes over from the suspended, injured and perhaps now repentant Beckham has plenty to prove.

Not only has he to try to establish himself as a bona fide international in his own right but he will also be aware that many will be looking to see if his performance in tonight's World Cup qualifier here is good enough to provide a credible alternative to Golden Balls or Tarnished Tonsils, depending on your point of view.

The opportunity to judge an England team without him does not present itself too often.

Since Eriksson began his reign as England coach in February 2001, Beckham has missed only one of England's competitive matches, the 2-1 home victory over Slovakia in June 2003.

Whenever he has been needed, either before or since that date, the Real Madrid star has stepped up to the plate - up to now, that is.

Owen Hargreaves or Eriksson's other alternatives, Manchester City's Shaun Wright-Phillips and Newcastle's Jermaine Jenas, will now have the chance of stepping into the talented boots of our erstwhile icon, for one match or more depending on the state of Beckham's ribs and the patience of FIFA.

To be honest, whichever of the those is given the job on the right side of midfield against Azerbaijan tonight, it should be enough for England to earn another three points towards automatic qualification for Germany in 2006.

As has happened in the past, all the fuss and bother surrounding Beckham has meant tonight's match has been marginalised to little more than a sideshow, something which must irritate the other England players no end.

Eriksson will address the Beckham question later but the game is what matters to fans. Hargreaves is perhaps the safer choice, particularly if Eriksson reverts to the more tried and tested 4-4-2 system.

Should Ledley King play at left-back and Ashley Cole in midfield, it would indeed be something of a gamble to pick the more attack-minded Wright-Phillips on the other flank . . . and even more to spring a surprise and opt for 21-year-old Jenas.

Hargreaves is the most experienced. He was first introduced into Eriksson's team as a substitute in the 5-1 victory over Germany.

Eriksson obviously rates the Canadian-born player highly, as much for his fitness levels and attitude as his ability.

The recurring problem with the Bayern Munich star however is that he has hardly played.

In fact, since the start of the season, Hargreaves has been involved just four times, two with his Bundesliga club and twice as a substitute for England.

Whoever he picks, Eriksson is positively glowing about England's future. He said: "We have a wonderful squad. It's getting better and better, stronger and stronger, younger and younger.

"The future for England is great. Now and then up pops a problem and if nothing pops up then we create one ourselves.

"We did very well against Wales and we might do it [the diamond formation] again although, to play someone like Wright-Phillips, we would need to go back to 4-4-2."

Eriksson has watched tapes of Azerbaijan's matches against Wales and Northern Ireland which both ended in draws and he has full reports from his scouts.

He added: "They play three at the back. They work hard, they have good players who can keep the ball."

He may be right but England should win by a couple of goals tonight, against a team and a nation who will be disappointed and perplexed by our captain's temporary absence.

And the fact is that, however the stand-in performs, Beckham will be back as soon as his ribs and FIFA allow.

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Shaun Wright-phillips

Hargreaves in pole position to step into limelight

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