Neville: Capello wrong to write off Beckham

Gary Neville says Fabio Capello was wrong to call time on David Beckham's England career.

Neville, Beckham's best pal when the two played together at Manchester United, said the former England skipper still had a role to play for his country, despite Capello saying he would not call him up again.
"I did find it odd that Capello made a statement about David Beckham being too old to play for England," said Neville. "It was a strange thing to say about someone as prominent as Becks before a match.
"Managers know that statements like that will create a furore, but he's not stupid, so I can't imagine he just said it off the cuff.
"Becks has been written off many times before and he's always come back to prove people wrong. I believe you should never rule anyone out of contention to play for their country because you don't know what can happen with injuries or form. Becks could be fit again in two months, playing the best football of his life."
Neville gave Capello credit for playing young players like Joe Hart, Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs in last week's 2-1 win over Hungary at Wembley, and urged the England boss to stick with them for next month's opening Euro 2012 qualifier against Bulgaria.


"The introduction of young players in the second-half was good to see," said Neville. "The interesting thing will be if those players will be trusted to take England into the more serious qualifying games.
"We won't have wait long to find out, because next month's qualifiers will come round very quickly.
"Fabio Capello seems to have made a statement that he wants to introduce younger players and that's all well and good, but now he has to choose them in the games that matter.
"I thought England played quite well against Hungary in the friendly at Wembley last Wednesday.

"Some of the football and interplay was good in the first half and the system worked better. People were crying out for England to play 4-5-1 in the World Cup and we finally saw it in a friendly against Hungary when they probably could have got away with playing 4-4-2."