From Mike Adams’ minute-by-minute coverage of today’s Estonia-England European Championship qualifier at guardian.co.uk (the game’s not over yet; England’s ahead 3-0 with about 10 minutes left);
GOAL! Estonia 0 – 2 England (Crouch 54) Beckham, in plenty of space, sends over a dipping cross that Crouch allows to bounce in front of him before looping his header over Poom into the far corner. It was a very neat goal, even if there weren’t any defenders anywhere near the two protagonists. The fans immediately start chanting “There’s only one David Beckham!” which may or may not be true.
GOAL! Estonia 0 – 3 England (Owen 61) Beckham is again the creator, while Owen is the scorer for the first time in 13 months. With the left-back standing off him again, Beckham had time to deliver another delicious cross to the six-yard box, where remarkably Owen was completely unmarked. He then made enough contact to nudge the ball back across Poom and across the line. And suddenly England are world-beaters again! Tomorrow they’ll be second favourites for the European Championship (I don’t know why, but they’re always second favourites).
68 mins England sub: Beckham off, Dyer on. Beckham had been limping for the best part of an hour, and should he bit unfit for Real Madrid’s game at Zaragoza on Saturday, Fabio Capello will be a very angry man. The critics will say “oh, but it was only against Estonia”, but again Beckham has been the man most likely to create something for England – just as he was against Brazil, and just as he was in the World Cup (he either scored or set up five of England’s six goals).
Of course, the L.A. Galaxy may be beyond hope anyway. But Beckham remains the real deal.
Update: England won 3-0. And by the way, Juan Pablo Angel is the real deal, too.