The details will be forgotten, which is perhaps just as well. We will not recall that it was a lousy game (certainly for Fabio Capello’s England) or that David Beckham’s gold boots dazzled more than his performance.

We will not dwell on the fact that he was booked for tugging on Franck Ribéry’s shirt, a moment that encapsulated the thrilling pace of France compared with the shocking leaden-footedness of England.

Just as no one recounts that Peter Shilton’s 100th cap came in a depressing 3-1 defeat by Holland in Euro ’88 and he was dropped a game later, we can do Beckham the honour of simply acknowledging that he passed a famous milestone in the Stade de France last night.

He did so in front of his family — his mother, father, sisters, wife and three sons — and a crowd that warmly acknowledged England’s centurion as he made his way to the bench in the 63rd minute, to be replaced by David Bentley. It was a rare sight indeed as thousands of Frenchmen and women joined in the ovation, giving Beckham a moment to cherish.

“You expect it off your own fans and I thank them for that, but it was the French people as well,” he said. “It was an amazing standing ovation and I’m very proud of that. If there was one place I would have liked the game it was here, as it’s where \ Zidane played, it’s one of my favourite cities and I have a house in France.”

It was an uplifting moment but, otherwise, there was a a notable lack of ceremony, an absence of fanfare. Asked if he had said anything special to Beckham in his pre-match talk, Capello was short. “No,” he said. It was left to Beckham’s team-mates to sign an England shirt with 100 on the back.

If it had not been for the gold boots inscribed with “100 caps” below the Three Lions, you would not have known that anything was out of the ordinary. Beckham came out ninth in line, posed for a picture with the rest of the team, received some last-minute instructions from Capello and then, well, played a game of football. A forgettable one, too, but then he was far from alone in that.

That England were outclassed, and Capello made to wonder what he has taken on, was a collective failing. Many of the players know that they will be given the chance to redeem the situation, if only because Capello’s pool is depressingly thin. For Beckham, as he went out with his family for celebrations in Paris, there must have been a small fear that his 100th cap may be his last.

Either way, it was probably not the occasion he had hoped for, but then not even a man of his will can always dictate the script. And he also knows not to be greedy. There were plenty of times when he never expected to be here at all. It was an achievement, proof of his reserves of defiance, that he had made it, given that he had been written off by Steve McClaren and, in Capello, was relying for selection on the world’s least sentimental manager.

Whether the Italian will summon him again is impossible to know, given that the England players did not even know the team two hours before kick-off. On the one hand, none of Beckham’s rivals have put together a remotely convincing case. It would be harsh to draw any lasting conclusions from Bentley’s half-hour last night but, like the rest of England’s evening, it was spectacularly ordinary.

Alternatively, Capello is known to harbour concerns about whether Beckham can play in the United States and commute for England’s World Cup qualifying campaign, particularly given the long trips to Croatia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

All that we know for sure is that Beckham himself will soldier on. Last off the pitch, he may have looked like a man departing the stage but the impression was misleading. “Like I said during the week, I want to carry on.” Playing for England gives him a relevance which is not to be tossed away lightly. On Saturday, he will be forced to swap the Stade de France for Dick’s Sporting Goods Park and a match against the Colorado Rapids.

There are some who will call his century a hollow achievement, given the lack of medals, but, if nothing else, it is a testament to Beckham’s doggedness and resilience. He is only the fifth Englishmen to do so and we cannot be sure when we will see the sixth. Gary Neville is stalled on 85. Michael Owen is only 11 away from his century but far from sure of Capello’s backing.

Beckham may have crawled over the line but he got there in the end. If England continue to play at this laboured pace, he could probably chalk up another 100.

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