In his wildest dreams, David Beckham has fantasised about lifting the World Cup on the day that he becomes England’s most capped player in Johannesburg on July 11 next year.

But his bid to break Peter Shilton’s record of 125 appearances for the national team has been jeopardised by the Los Angeles Galaxy’s success in reaching Major League Soccer’s Western Conference final.

With his commitments to the Galaxy denying him the chance to win his 116th England cap against Brazil in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday, Beckham can no longer beat Shilton’s record at next summer’s World Cup finals in South Africa. With a maximum of three warm-up matches after the meeting with Brazil, the former captain must wonder whether the Galaxy’s overdue run of success, along with Fabio Capello’s refusal to pick him against Slovenia and Ukraine recently, might keep Shilton’s record intact.

Beckham has long stated that it would be a “dream” to become England’s most capped player, but that looks more distant after the Galaxy beat Chivas USA 1-0 in the early hours of yesterday to complete a 3-2 aggregate win and earn a place in the Western Conference final against the Houston Dynamo in Los Angeles. The winners of that tie will face the Chicago Fire or Real Salt Lake in the MLS Cup final in Seattle on November 22.

“We’re not going to get too excited.” Beckham, who will rejoin AC Milan on loan in January, said yesterday. “We’re happy we’re through and we deserve to be through but it’s another step forward to what we want to do for this franchise.”

The opportunity to win a trophy, something he has rarely experienced since his Manchester United days, will appeal to Beckham, but it means that, even if he were to play in a maximum of three friendly games for England after Saturday and in every round of the World Cup — on the speculative basis that his team reached the final or indeed the third-fourth place play-off match — he could do no more than equal Shilton’s record in South Africa.

Given that he will be 35 by the time the World Cup starts, his chances of figuring in the subsequent European Championship qualifying campaign are far from assured.

Unlike in 2002, when England played friendly matches in February, March and April and another two in May before the start of the World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea, England will play a maximum of three warm-up matches after Saturday. The game on March 3, probably against African opposition at Wembley, will be England’s last before the end of the season, with Capello expected to arrange either one or two fixtures around the training camp in Austria.

Shilton, the goalkeeper whose appearances spanned a 20-year period between 1970 and 1990, has been somewhat grudging about Beckham’s threat to his record, taking issue with the number of brief substitute appearances that have nudged him closer to that total during Capello’s tenure. However, in keeping Beckham on the bench throughout the friendly match against Slovenia in September and then dropping him from the 18-man squad for the penultimate qualifying match against Ukraine last month, Capello may have strengthened Shilton’s grip on his jealously guarded record.

In the absence of Beckham and with Theo Walcott and Aaron Lennon absent because of injury, Shaun Wright-Phillips, the Manchester City winger, is likely to play on the right of midfield against Brazil. On the left, James Milner, the Aston Villa midfield player, is in contention to start an England match for the first time.

All things being equal

Ten steps to equal Peter Shilton’s record

March 3 Friendly match (116th cap)

May/June Maximum of two friendly matches (117th and 118th caps)

June 11 to 25 World Cup group stages (119th, 120th and 121st caps)

June 26 to 29 World Cup first knockout round (122nd cap)

July 2 to 3 World Cup quarter-final (123rd cap)

July 6 to 7 World Cup semi-final (124th cap)

July 11 World Cup final, or third-fourth place play-off the previous day (125th cap)

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