No one-man show

With derision less delicate, columnist Brian Reade of the Mirror chimed in, "I'm slightly concerned at the over-the-top reaction to David Beckham's debut goal for L.A. Galaxy. Perspective time. He's scored one free kick against DC United at a part-time Motocross track they call the Home Depot Center, past a goalkeeper called Troy Perkins. Yes. Troy Perkins. Half wooden horse/half rockabilly singer. Croatia, Russia and Israel will not, repeat not, be quaking in their boots."

Only in Beckham's singular case, however, could a player invite pooh-poohing in the global minor leagues while inviting resentment for jetting around treating England as a global minor league.

Intoning that the "circus is coming back to town," Jeff Powell in the Daily Mail dubbed Beckham "the clown prince of star-spangled football" and wondered "why is he being allowed to fly halfway around the world on a wonky ankle for, at best, a cameo appearance in a game which, even though it is against our old German friends, is still only a friendly?"

Having asked the question, Powell answered: "Again, our whole national team is being used as a billboard for Brand Beckham."

The England national teamsits fourth in the Group E qualifying for the quadrennial Euro 2008 hoo-ha in Austria and Switzerland. With five qualifying matches remaining, Croatia and Israel have 17 points each, Russia has 15, England has 14, and Euro 2008 has only two spots for the four. England hasn't won any of the previous 12 European championships, the world's second-biggest men's national tournament.

The Germany friendly predates two qualifying matches that count, both in London, one against Israel on Sept. 8 (the same day as Galaxy vs. Colorado) and one against Russia on Sept. 12 (the day before Galaxy at Chivas). Not that a horde of England players will get the tune-up together. Monday's injury updates robbed McClaren of the chance to employ Liverpool's Steven Gerrard, Manchester United's Owen Hargreaves, Tottenham's Darren Bent and Portsmouth's Sol Campbell.

Two of those players plus a batch of English nationals participated last weekend in Sunday matches. In bygone days of golden yore, English club football held all matches simultaneously on Saturdays, but then along came the insistent king of the world, TV, and after that came its mammoth global contracts with the Premier League, and after that players on Wednesday still tired from Sunday, with time for only one full practice before a friendly with Germany.