Beckham targets England success

Midfielder hoping to stay involved with team

Last updated: 1st June 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Beckham targets England success

Beckham: Wants World Cup spot

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David Beckham has vowed to make himself available for all four of England's games while he is back with Los Angeles Galaxy.

The midfielder finished his spell in Italy on Sunday by helping AC Milan claim third place in Serie A with a 2-0 victory over Fiorentina.

He can now turn his focus to England's World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Andorra before returning to America later in the summer.

Beckham is determined to help England reach the 2010 tournament in South Africa and is looking forward to the upcoming games.

Fabio Capello's men have won their first five matches in Group Six and Beckham admits he is dreaming of glory at the World Cup.

"I think what drives me hard is just playing for England," the 34-year-old told the Los Angeles Times.

Involved

"That's what keeps me going. Obviously, I'd love to win something with my country, but just being involved in every game that I play in, whether it be a friendly or a qualifier, I love playing for my country.

"So that's what keeps me going. Nothing's guaranteed about me being involved in the World Cup squad in 2010, but hopefully I'm doing the right things to be involved in the games leading up to that, the games that will get us to the World Cup."

Beckham added: "Kazakhstan away is a tough match. I'm sure it's going to be really warm there. Andorra, I know it sounds cliche, but there are no easy games in football.

"Again, the goal is to get maximum points from both games, but you never know what can happen."

England will have further qualifiers against Croatia, Ukraine and Belarus in the autumn, while they also face Holland in a friendly in August.

No friendlies

Galaxy boss Bruce Arena had hoped to keep Beckham out of the clash with Holland but such a prospect appears unlikely.

"You always want to play against the best countries and the best players, but aside from that it's a game for my country and I will never pull out of games for my country," said Beckham.

"It's one thing I've always said about Fabio Capello, whether it's been with Real Madrid or with England, there are no friendlies.

"He doesn't treat friendlies as friendly games. They're competitive matches which he expects you to perform in. So for me it might say friendly on the TV or in the newspaper, but it's not one."