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It sure looks like England is cursed with injuries to their main figures ahead of every major tournament, and Beckham’s latest injury that is sure to keep him out of the WC 2010 squad is the latest example.
 
Becks is not the 1st English hope to have conceded an injury at the worst of times, and although he was not an essential part of Capello’s plans anyway, it still brings the memories of other more influential injuries.
 
We start off with Kevin Beattie, the defender that Sir Bobby Robson nicknamed ‘The Diamond’. Beattie had 9 promising international caps before he was forced into an early retirement after he was involved in a domestic bonfire accident that left him some serious burns. So much for ‘The new Bobby Moore’ who was supposedly ‘better than Duncan Edwards’ and was expected to become England’s most capped player ever.
 
We move on to the 1982 WC with the legendary Kevin Keegan and ‘Sir’ Trevor Broking, having both lead the 3 Lions to qualify for the finals in Spain. Both conceded injuries though just before the tournament, with Keegan suffering a back injury and Broking hosting a bad ankle. Ron Greenwood still included them on his WC list, but the impressive duo failed to live up to their manager expectations and England was knocked out of the 2nd groups stage as the duo was clearly lacking on fitness.
 
Once again in 1986 WC, and this time it was Bryan Robson who had lead England through their 8-0 win over Turkey, netting 3 goals himself. The WBA/Man Utd midfielder was impressive in the 1982 WC finals preliminary groups stage, so with 4 more added years of experience, and backed by the likes of Ray Wilkins he was supposed to lead the English to glory. He received an injury to his shoulder though, and although he did play in the finals, he fell on that injured shoulder during the game vs Morocco, and had to miss the infamous game vs Argentina in which Maradona scored a brace to help Argentina past England and eventually all the way to win the title.
 
Terry Butcher is next. He was a true fighter on the pitch, and it cost him dearly, as he broke his leg in November 1987 going together with Scotland’s Alex McLeish (The current Birmingham manager). Mark Wright and Tony Adams became England’s defense duo in Euro 1988 in which the English failed miserably.
 
Moving on to Euro 1992, and things could’ve been much different had Spurs legend Paul Gascoigne not been injured in the 1991 FA Cup final vs Nottingham Forest. The incident with Forest’s Gary Crosby resulted in a serious knee injury that kept Gascoigne away from the tournament.
 
Jamie Redknapp (the son of Spurs current coach Harry Redknapp) comes next on the list, who sarcastically remarked ‘it must be a new record’ when he was carried off the pitch by medics on 3 different occasions with England.
 
1st he broke his ankle at Wembley vs Scotland in 1995. However, England made it to the semi-final of the Euro 1996, but things were much different in the 1998 WC in France.
 
In May 1997, the Liverpool midfielder conceded an injury in an international friendly at Old Trafford vs South Africa, and was forced out of the pitch for a whole season, missing the WC finals in France altogether, and ruining Glenn Hoddle’s plans.
 
David Beckham himself was injured just before the Korea/Japan 2002 WC finals. He had broken a bone in his left foot in a Champions League fixture between Man Utd and Depor on April 11, only 50 days before the WC kicked off. He did manage to shrug it off to lead England vs Sweden in the finals, but he had lost his fitness and was not versatile enough.
 
Then he was injured again vs Brazil in the game Brazil won by 2-1 t go all the way to win the title.
 
Now Rooney holds the English fans hopes in the 2010 WC version in South Africa this summer, and it would be a real blow if –God forbid- he was not at his best by then. Should he be insured by the FA?