Owen: I back Beckham

14 April 2012

Michael Owen today backed David Beckham over his shock admission that he deliberately earned a booking during Saturday's World Cup qualifier against Wales.

Beckham is facing action from FIFA following his confession, with president Sepp Blatter certain to step into the controversy.

World Cup winner Geoff Hurst waded into the row today, criticising Beckham for his comments.

But, according to Owen, who takes over as England captain in his Real Madrid team-mate's absence, the rest of the team are fully behind him.

"I would think all the team will stick by him whatever happens," said Owen, speaking ahead of tomorrow's Group Six World Cup clash against Azerbaijan in Baku.

"He is my mate and I want to stick up for him. If you don't bend the rules a little bit, people will get left behind. He won't have that yellow card hanging over him for the next few games now.

"Certainly, in some areas of the game, professionals try to bend the rules and that's been going on since the game was invented."

England manager Sven Goran Eriksson said he would not "take care" of the controversy surrounding Beckham's remarks until after the game against Azerbaijan.

"I will know what I will do on Thursday or Friday, please wait until then," he said. "On Thursday or Friday I will take care of it."

Hurst said, however: "If it had been in my time, Sir Alf [Ramsey] would have stripped him of the captaincy."

Beckham misses tomorrow night's match through suspension as a result of the yellow card, given because of his tackle on Ben Thatcher. Today, however, he revealed he knew he had damaged his ribs in the challenge with the Wales defender, and, realising he would miss tomorrow's game through injury, set out to be booked and get the ban out of the way.

FIFA president Blatter was in Azerbaijan today to unveil a statue with Hurst for Tofiq Bakhramov, the Azeri linesman who confirmed Hurst's goal in the 1966 World Cup final. The FIFA president will see Beckham's admission as a clear infringement of his campaign for "Fair Play" in football. But FIFA can act only after an official complaint, which is unlikely to come from the FA or Eriksson.

"It was deliberate," said Beckham today. "I am sure some people think I have not got the brains to be clever, but I do. I could feel the injury so I fouled Thatcher. I knew straight away I had broken my ribs so I thought, 'Let's get the yellow card out of the way.'"

Beckham's premeditated action could backfire if the FA are obliged to investigate and subsequently ban him from further England competitive matches.

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Owen: I back Beckham

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