The conversation went something like this. Do you want a 100th cap that is a charity job, a favour, a sop tossed to a sentimental public that will, in essence, mean nothing, coming as it does for all the wrong reasons; or do you want a century that is deserved, that brings with it the acknowledgement of a career that has life in it still, that can be crucial and significant and meaningful beyond all expectations?

Do you, David Beckham, want to have a goal in life or a fake gold clock? And, put like that, how could he logically resist? Indeed, how could anyone? The ego-strokers and proto-stalkers may fume impotently, but Fabio Capello has got his first big call absolutely right.

Footballers need to play football. No player can photo-shoot or interview his way into the England team. When Beckham collects his 100th cap it must be on merit, or exist without credibility. This is nothing to do with making a statement; this is about making sense.

Steve McClaren was right about Beckham, too, after the World Cup in 2006, but he lacked the conviction to justify his decision. Too concerned for his image, he allowed a judgment made for sound football reasons – Beckham’s England performances looked like those of a man who was taking his status for granted – to be corrupted by mistrust.

Many saw it as a PR stunt, one that misfired badly when the players McClaren had lined up for Beckham’s role, not least Steven Gerrard, failed to perform. Capello has no such complication. He exudes the gravitas that McClaren lacked and has framed his argument to the player in more encouraging terms. McClaren dropped Beckham because he did not think he could do it; Capello has left him out because he thinks he can and will, just not now, when he is lacking match fitness.

Beckham’s determination to remain in shape, training with Arsenal’s reserves during the Major League Soccer (MLS) close season, is admirable, but in recent weeks his advisers have reverted to type. There has been a round of friendly interviews, a rash of photographs showing off his toned upper torso, a couple of well-publicised meetings with the Prime Minister – who came obediently at the snap of David’s fingers, like a good little puppy dog – all designed to maintain his standing as the man Capello could not ignore.

Except he has, because to fall so tamely into line would make him no different to Sven-Göran Eriksson who raised a toast to Beckham’s century last month as if to deny it would be treachery. Everyone has seen where that charade ends and set against the cold rationality of Capello’s argument, how silly Eriksson’s moment seems now.

There is nothing but sentiment in Beckham’s corner this morning, the warped justifications of those who regard the rounding up of England appearances as due, or fair. Yet, as Beckham cannot be evaluated on form during the MLS close season, how fair would his selection be to players such as David Bentley, Ashley Young, Shaun Wright-Phillips or Gabriel Agbonlahor, who are playing well in one of the hardest leagues in the world? Would it be fair to ignore them, for what is no more than a ceremony?

Capello is no fool. He understands that the most successful football nations, the ones that experience sustained success in leading championships, are those that have kept the worth of international selection intact. Brazil may hawk the team out to the highest bidder, but every player attends, no matter where the venue. Italy treat all levels of international competition seriously – and Aaron Lennon would do well to remember that, before he sulks at his demotion to the under-21 team – and Capello never considered the visit of Switzerland as a trivial affair in which Beckham’s 100th cap might be tossed across the room like a bauble. There will be criticism of his selection of Michael Owen, and the suggestion that the striker has received preferential treatment, but that choice comes down to one factor alone: options – or, rather, the lack of them.

Meanwhile, the idea that thousands of people have paid under false pretences to watch Beckham reach three figures is laughable. The price of admission gives the purchaser the right to attend the match, not to pick the team. What next, a refund at the box office because the Arctic Monkeys do not take requests?

Through our interactive television culture, we have become a nation that believes it has the right to vote on everything. Capello, with his unblinking logic, is the antidote. He knows that his value judgments give greater worth to the dying ember of Beckham’s career than this muddled fan club, those who text and recite their messages of support and wish him anointed with 100 caps because it is only a friendly, and then the issue will go away. Distilled, the argument is that Beckham is past it, but he was good once and seems a decent bloke, so let him achieve his milestone and then he can toddle off to Los Angeles a happy man. If Beckham really wants that as his send-off, he truly is a dumb blond.

Not likely. Beckham is smart enough to understand Capello’s thinking and, it must be hoped, driven enough to make it work. He turned McClaren’s head from afar, and he can turn Capello’s, too. Football is about passing the ball and he still does it better than anybody in England’s midfield. His fitness is the issue and that is what must now be proven if he is to return to the squad for the matches in May and June (the friendly in France on March 26 will also come too soon for him as the Los Angeles Galaxy’s first competitive fixture of the season is not scheduled until March 29).

England play Scotland on May 28 and then travel across the Atlantic for an away match on June 1, with Trinidad & Tobago the likely destination, and by then the MLS season will be in full swing.

Capello’s encouragement to Beckham is that he may not only win his 100th cap, but also his 101st and more next season, providing he meets the standards required. Can a man stay fit for international football in Europe in the backwater of the MLS? Many think not, but Capello will decide, and this glimpse of his methodology at least indicates that he will always call it as he sees it. When the more emotional elements of English football have grown up and wiped the tears from their eyes, they should realise that Beckham, and his public, deserve no more.

Preliminary squad to face Switzerland

Goalkeepers: D James (Portsmouth; 37, 35), S Carson (Aston Villa; age 22, caps 2), C Kirkland (Wigan Athletic; 26, 1).

Defenders: W Bridge (Chelsea; 27, 27), W Brown (Manchester United; 28, 14), A Cole (Chelsea; 27, 61), C Davies (Aston Villa; 22, 0), R Ferdinand (Manchester United; 29, 64) G Johnson (Portsmouth; 23, 5), L King (Tottenham Hotspur; 27, 19), J Lescott (Everton; 25, 4), M Richards (Manchester City; 19, 11), N Shorey (Reading; 26, 2), M Upson (West Ham United; 28, 7), J Woodgate (Tottenham Hotspur; 28, 6).

Midfield players: G Barry (Aston Villa; 26, 16), D Bentley (Blackburn Rovers; 23, 2), M Carrick (Manchester United; 26, 14), J Cole (Chelsea; 26, 47), S Downing (Middlesbrough; 23, 16), S Gerrard (Liverpool; 27, 63), O Hargreaves (Manchester United; 27, 39), J Jenas (Tottenham Hotspur; 24, 17), S Wright-Phillips (Chelsea; 26, 18), A Young (Aston Villa; 22, 1).

Forwards: G Agbonlahor (Aston Villa; 21, 0), P Crouch (Liverpool; 27, 24), E Heskey (Wigan Athletic; 30, 45), M Owen (Newcastle United; 28, 88), W Rooney (Manchester United; 22, 40).

— Teams watched by Fabio Capello or Franco Baldini 5 times: Manchester United. 4: Tottenham Hotspur. 2: Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Chelsea, Arsenal, Reading. 1: Middlesbrough, Portsmouth, Wigan Athletic, Bolton Wanderers, Newcastle United, Liverpool, Luton Town.

— Barclays Premier League clubs not watched: Birmingham City, Derby County, Fulham, Manchester City, Sunderland, West Ham United

— Clubs represented in 30-man squad 5 players: Aston Villa, Manchester United 4: Chelsea 3: Tottenham Hotspur 2: Liverpool, Portsmouth, Wigan Athletic. 1: Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Manchester City, Middlesbrough, Newcastle United, Reading, West Ham United.

— Players whom neither Fabio Capello nor Franco Baldini have watched in action in the flesh Matthew Upson (West Ham United), Micah Richards (Manchester City), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool – because he did not play away to Luton Town in the FA Cup), Jonathan Woodgate (Tottenham Hotspur). They have watched Ashley Cole only for a couple of minutes as a 90th-minute substitute against Everton.