David Beckham vows to play on for England and backs Fabio Capello to stay on as manager

On the bench: Beckham is keen to play on for England and wants Capello to stay


Playing on: Beckham is already England's most capped outfield player


David Beckham maintains he is determined to have an impact on the field for England again - despite being linked with a coaching role should Fabio Capello be axed as manager. 

The 35-year-old Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder missed out on the chance to play at a fourth World Cup finals when he suffered a ruptured achilles while on loan at AC Milan. 
However, Beckham was invited along as part of the England group by Capello and sat on the bench for what turned out to be a wretched campaign, which ended with 4-1 defeat to Germany in the last 16. 



The future of Capello, whose contract runs until after the 2012 European Championships, remains uncertain as the Football Association weigh up their options.  It has been suggested former Manchester United and Real Madrid star Beckham should take charge of the side, backed up by more experienced coaches, a bit like Diego Maradona has done with Argentina.

However, Beckham, who holds the record number of appearances for an outfield England player at 115, insists he is not ready to move into the dugout just yet. 

Beckham told Yahoo! Sport: 'While I am flattered to be talked about as a coach and am always available for my country, whenever I am needed, I still see myself as a player and remain supportive of the manager.' 

The England midfielder, however, accepts the Three Lions were just not good enough in South Africa. 

'We didn't play at the level we knew that we were capable of,' said the former England skipper. 'Over the four matches we weren't good enough and regardless of the goal that never was, Germany played better than we did over the 90 minutes and deserved to go through.

'Having seen the lads in training, the spirit was good, everyone trained at a really high level, it was just disappointing we couldn't transfer that onto the pitch. 

'As a team, we have to learn from everything that's happened, come back stronger and play to our potential.'