The Beckham saga is becoming even more of a farce than it was when he was in in England. The results of the LA Galaxy do not matter. They are an inconsequential football team that are paying a fading player a huge sum to increase their financial income and brand awareness. The only matter of concern regarding Beckham is that he believes that he is capable of playing for England whilst not being able to improve the win/loss record of a poor quality side in a poor league.
Beckham has no legs anymore at the highest level, his fitness was suspect last year. His contribution to the game against Germany was minimal and if selected for the forthcoming qualifiers will be even less. For every one good thing he does he fails several times, does not tackle or cover back and his crosses go to a defender more than an attacker.
His judgment in retaliating to a bad tackle by waving his handbag in the face of Marsch also shows a lack of control. Please ignore him as you do other UK players in US

Cliff Bury, New Territories, Hong Kong

Beckham is a world class athlete whose trainng and physique can withstand an occassional long distance flight. As an example many Premeir League teams flew to Asia for pre-season tournaments and then returned for more preseason games. Such scheduling can be done. Many an investment banker performs on a similar schedule.

Grant, Scarsdale New York, USA

Well, this kind of problem can be easily mitigated if Becks chose NY Red Bull over LA Galaxy since the transatlantic flight would be cut down by 5 hrs. But Posh and possibly himself too want the "glamorous life" in LA and that's the price he will have to pay.

Mart, London,

He should never have been picked to play with his injury..... but I have a feeling him playing has more to do with shirt sales than anything for both LA Galaxy and England.

I hope he's off-setting his carbon footprint for all these trans-atlantic trips.

Attitude it one thing in a player, but being fit and playing on form is another.

David, London, England

Well said

What we need more is a manager who will not be afraid of including/excluding players on merit. Nobody's position should be deemded too safe to take for granted

Having said that, the U turn on the more senior sqad players though, is rather worrying considering the apparent prompt decisiveness with which it was executed. Who among them hasn't been recalled?

Don A, Manchester, UK

this guy save england's many times... remember free kick against greece.. and his many assists?? i dunt know why people still want to put him down.. he may not be in his best form but he still can change a game with his pass or freekick.. england have joe cole or wright-philip but beck give different dimension to england.. beck,, keep going as england need you..

king, malton,

A team is a team - 11 players, and no matter how rich Beckham is or becomes, he can only be ONE OF ELEVEN.

No one mentions the South Americans or the Japanese because they don't have to come on and play from the airport. They get time to adjust.

Beckham is short changing Galaxy, and quite frankly he is short changing England. He cannot last 90 mins anymore; end of story. Teach other kids to deliver a dead ball and get back to having a team. Look at Reading; good team, no superstars. Look at England, all superstars, no team!

Frank Keegan, Alderley Edge,

Beckham has been fantastic for his country and has shown great pride in wearing the England shirt. The likes of Shearer, Carragher and Scholes who turn their backs on their nation should be ashamed. Beckham is a great role model.

James, Woking, UK

Beckham does a job.

England know it. Galaxy know it. Let him get on with it.

He's not Pele or Maradona ... he was never in that league. Let him earn his dough and give him a chance to prove he's still got what it takes at international level. He certainly still has something to offer ... nobody denies that.

Some people talk like he's George Foreman still punching his weight at 50! Get a grip!

Tim, London,

To say Beckham was "tackled" was an outrage.Marsch made no effort to get the ball. It was a blatant kick to the upper body, the like of which I haven't seen on an professional soccer pitch for over 30 years!

Graham Duncan, Austin, Texas USA

There's more to Beckham playing for England than meets the eye. Whether we like it or not he sells merchandice, for both his 3rd rate club, and for England (the English FA). He was picked to play on Wednesday for that reason, and that reason alone. It makes me sick. His injury was well documented, but still he played. I feel that he wanted to do this to help his image in the US - he would have been slated in the US media if he wasn't picked for England. "all that money for a guy not good enough for his national soccer team".....

I hope he's putting his money to good use and off-setting his carbon footprint for all of the fflights he's taking to maintain Global Brand Beckham.

David, London, England

Beckham can't cut it at any high level of football! Mika Richards was covering both the right back and right side of midfield on Wednesday. Why won't people get over the fact that his day has been and gone. McLaren and Beckham out....

LUSC, LEEDS,

Too bad Beckham had to come all the way to America for a lost cause. He's doing England a great service, though. God knows the war has put a big strain on relations. However, soccer becoming a major sport in the US has as much of a chance as Iraq becoming a democracy.

Charles, Seattle, USA

David Beckham is being paid an exhorbitant sum of money to play for LA Galaxy. It would not be unreasonable for the club to request that he solely focuses on them. He is being paid to be at his best and it doesn't seem possible that a person doing that much travelling can perform at their optimum level - for country or club.

Mike, Dublin, Ireland

I was at the game, I thought played well given that he tired but the rest of the team played so badley that even if Beckham was fresh off the boat the result would have been the same.
For the management to blame themselves for playing Beckham is a joke. The front line could not score and the defenders went to sleep. They need better players to play along side Beckham to make a great team.

Tim Hamilton, Aliso Viejo, USA/CA

David Beckham is incredibly rich and famous, in fact he's rich from being famous, and he's famous mostly for playing for England. Given that it's made him what he is, how could he ever 'easily walk away' from it.

The big question is; why on earth did Steve Maclaren keep Beckham on for 90 minutes (completely hampering any tactical changes England might have made in order to win the match), and say after the match "the most important thing was to give David 90 minutes", when he had this match the next day?

matt, oxford,

David Beckham is a worthy Role model for Britains youth, my son thinks he's great. We should have learnt by now not to expect to much, getting to the world cup finals is a great achievment.
Besides which ( and this is what I tell my German collegues) we're English we don't have anything to prove, We only enter the World Cup to enter into the spirit, it would be dashed bad manners to win every time. we leave that to nations with less decorum!

Will, Bomlitz, Germany

Beckham is the real figure head of the England team. As much as he embraces celebrity culture he is true and honest, unassuming and gives his all - many of the England team in comparison are vain prima donas who are an embarrassment to their country.

surreysteve, surrey,

For me, Beckham has always been one of the most overrated player of all times. Maybe it's because I haven't seen enough of him at club level. He's great at free kicks but that's about all. At major tournaments he has been appalling.

Fritz Schalowsky, Bielefeld, Germany

I agree with NY Matt. Beckham has proved himself an incredible player over and over - US match goers need to treat his play with the same perspective they show athletes in other sports. No one expects even the best baseball pitcher to throw a no hitter, or even simply eke out a win, every game he starts. The best hitters strike out, the best American football quarterbacks throw interceptions, and the best basketball shooters make 1 out of 10 some nights. No one can be Superman every match.

Jen, Seattle, WA, USA

It's getting ridiculous that Beckham would be allowed to play all 90 minutes THE DAY after playing 90 minutes in an international over 10,000 miles away. The only short-term solution is simple -- Beckham shouldn't practice. I've watched all of the Galaxy games that he has played in, and the fact is, he's miles better than anyone else on the team. He sends in ball after ball and only Pavon can do anything with them. The Galaxy should just work on finishing crosses and a whole lot of defending -- not that it will do much good at this point. But Beckham doesn't need to practice to be the leader of this team. I think he's already proven it in just a few games, and I seriously doubt that he will lose any fitness, especially if he is having to play 90 minutes 3 times a week.

Dennis Wright, Dallas, TX

David Beckham is incredibly rich and could easily walk away from Galaxy. The fact that he doesn't says a lot about his character... (with apologies to Philip, Dorset, England)

Roberto L Tanizaki, Metro Manila, Philippines

Hear hear, Philip from Dorset! There are one or two forwards in the England team that could learn alot from David Beckham about patriotism, commitment and team play.

Mosey, London,

Why does everybody make such a big deal about David's flights? The south American, African and Asian players in Europe have just the same flights back to their homelands for international's, but we're not banging on about them!!

Reece, Windsor, UK

Agreed. He is an excellent example, contrary to the likes of Scholes and Carragher attempting to prolong club careers. Beckham is the sort of player who seems to wear the national shirt as an honour - A rarity in this age of selfishness.

Isaiah, London,

England v Germany, it seemed to me that some of the English side wont pass the ball to David even when he is in an open position one bit of magic and a game can change. There is still a feeling among supporters that these other senior players are jealous and dont wont David to play. Surely the manager can see this and should it now .

Harry Lee , Alsager, England

"We are not worried. David is very confident he will be in peak condition - both for England and his club." [Beckham spokesman]

It's like Groundhog Day, I seem to remember hearing the same thing before the World Cup (2002), European Championships (2004) & World Cup (2006), but after Becks consistently under-performed in each of these tournaments, we were spun a different yarn regarding his lack of fitness & him playing whilst carrying an injury.

You can't help thinking that both England & the LA Galaxy are being short-changed!

Stav, London,

I agree with Philip. He is the one England player who makes me proud to watch them and also is a great ambassador for us accross the Pond. Hope he doesn't burn himself out. He is intelligent enough to know where his limits are but 90 mins for Galaxy after 90 mins for England plus the travelling must be hurting.... he's also returning from a long time out through injury. It does say something about his desire to achieve though and i respect that enormously.

james parkin, london,

I think it says as much about Beckham's desire to get 100 caps to be honest. He should have more loyalty to the team that pay his huge salary in my opinion.

9lives, Dublin,

says alot about players needing to be rested, the fact that he could play 2games in 2 days - pretty wild. its a shame that he's on trial everytime he steps on the pitch. he doesn't need to prove anything, i think his game would improve more if he didnt feel that way.

matt , new york NY, usa

You hit the nail on the head Phillip.

Mike, Duesseldorf, Germany

David Beckham is incredibly rich and could easily walk away
from England. The fact that he dosen't says alot about his
character and his patriotism for his country. Beckham has
been a great servant for the English nation and l wish the
rest of the England footballers were as committed and
patriotic as he is.

Philip, Dorset, England