Sport - Football

End of the road for captain Beckham?

LONDON: It looks like David Beckham will no longer be England captain after the World Cup. Steve McClaren will take over from Sven-Goran Eriksson at the start of August and, when the question of Beckham's captaincy was raised at his first news conference on Thursday, he didn't exactly give the Real Madrid star a ringing endorsement.

``That is something I don't want to discuss here,'' he told reporters. ``I don't think it's right to discuss here. We have got a World Cup coming up. That's my sole focus and attention on the squad and giving Sven my full support and backing.

``He's captain at the present moment under Sven.'' — AP

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