Beckham still has Team GB chance
David Beckham has been offered a small amount of hope regarding a place in the London Olympics squad from Team GB boss Stuart Pearce.
Reported by Sky Sports, the England under 21’s boss has admitted he might include the 37-year-old on his standby list, confident that the former England captain wouldn’t reject the call if needed.
Pearce announced his official squad of 18 on Monday, but has revealed the standby option is there for some players. He said: “I’ve not spoken with him [Beckham]. I’ve spoken with every other player and said, ‘Look that is the requirement we look for’. David, being the ultimate professional that he is, I’d very much be surprised if he said he wouldn’t want to be on that standby list.”
Olympic rules state that the football squads can only have four players in reserve to the original 18 and if Beckham was to be one of those options he would still only be able to replace one of the three overage players already selected. This means that Pearce may opt against taking the LA Galaxy star and choose four players that would be able to replace any of the other 15 in the squad.
The former Manchester City boss said: “Unless an over-age player gets injured, I can’t bring another one in. More sense might be to make all four standby players under-age so that we will have more of an option.”
Beckham is currently in the middle of the MLS season, scoring a trademark free kick in a 4-3 loss to the San Jose Earthquakes at the weekend.
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