Mend It Like Beckham

For

English football icon David Beckham, the irony must be almost unbearable. Last week, the Manchester United star midfielder and England captain was injured in a Champions' League match between Man U and Spain's Deportivo La Coruña. Beckham was felled by a two-footed challenge from Deportivo's Aldo Duscher, who is also an emerging international footballer for his native Argentina. Doctors confirmed that Beckham, 26, had a broken metatarsal bone in his left foot. He is almost certain to miss the Champions' League final on May 15, should Man U get that far. He is also in doubt for this year's World Cup, to be held in Japan and Korea in June. His reaction? "Devastated."

For Beckham, a captain's performance at Korea/Japan 2002 would be the final, triumphant step in the turnaround of his footballing fortunes. In the last World Cup, in France in 1998, Beckham was sent off after kicking an opponent during a match between England and Argentina. (Argentina has been a football nemesis for England since Diego Maradona's infamous goal in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, when the Argentinian star scored from a handball but claimed it went from "the hand of God to the head of Maradona.") England lost the 1998 clash and was eliminated. Beckham, already an object of negative attention from fans because of his boyish looks, superstar lifestyle and relationship with pop star Victoria Adams of the Spice Girls — now his wife — returned home a villain.

But Beckham gradually turned things around. He brought his notorious temper more or less under control. In November 2000, with management of the England team in flux, Beckham was appointed caretaker captain; when Sven- Göran Eriksson took over the reins last year, he gave Beckham the job on a permanent basis.

In his first competitive game as captain, against Finland, Beckham scored the winning goal. In the final match of England's World Cup 2002 campaign, he made a last-minute goal against Greece with a thumping free kick that sealed England's automatic qualification for the finals. Off the pitch, too, he has been a picture of discipline. Says Eriksson: "His behavior as a captain is absolutely perfect."

Not that he has become boring. His frequent hairstyle changes and fondness for designer clothing, plus outings with his high-profile wife and their son Brooklyn, 3, get him lauded and lampooned in equal measure in the tabloids. Last week Bend It Like Beckham, a feature film about a young woman from an Indian family in west London who wants to play football like her hero, premiered in London to favorable reviews. The star's endorsement deals with Adidas, Pepsi and Police sunglasses, among others, are believed to have netted him more than $21 million to date. In his negotiations for a new contract with Man U, more than 20 rounds of talks were held over his "image rights.'' The contract, yet to be set in stone, reportedly raises Becks' salary from $56,000 a week to $140,000.

If the country was rallying behind its captain before, it has gone bonkers over his mangled metatarsal. "Nothing is more important to England's arrangements for the World Cup than the state of David Beckham's foot," Prime Minister Tony Blair is said to have declared during a cabinet meeting. Radio phone-ins are humming with talk of orthopedics. The tabloid Sun put the appendage on its front page, urging readers to "Lay your hands on David's foot at noon and make it better."

What will probably be more effective is treatment and rest. Eriksson, who must name his squad for the World Cup on May 21, has vowed that he will stick by his captain. While most commentators doubt that England would win the World Cup anyway, the country's chances are greatly diminished without benefit of Beckham's carefully weighted passes to teammates and his exceptional skill in dead-ball situations, particularly free kicks. "If there's a small chance that [Beckham] will be able to play," Eriksson said, "then of course we will take him." Though optimists say the break could heal in as little as three weeks, the consensus is that it will take up to six. Beckham would then need about two weeks of training to become match fit. If he does make the World Cup, he could come on when England plays Sweden on June 2. Or he may reappear for England's next match on June 7 and pick up his World Cup career where it left off. Against Argentina.