Shilton doesn’t expect Becks to beat record

February 25, 2009

David Beckham reached 108 caps to go joint with Bobby Moore so he is now joint second behind Peter Shilton but Shilton is not worried and is confident he will keep his spot as number 1 with 125 caps.

“I don’t think he’ll beat my record. If he does it I’ll congratulate him.

“But I hope he does it in style, rather than by the back door. There’s a bit of debate about whether there should be caps given for substitute appearances.”

The former goalkeeper, who retired in 1997 at the age of 47, elaborated: “Like the game against Belarus recently, it was a bit of a joke for a player of his quality, in the situation of the game, to come on for a minute.

“Against Kazakhstan he came on with 15 minutes to go and made a difference against a team that was tiring badly, and that was a good ploy at that stage.

“To maintain his fitness levels for so long, you have to admire him, and you don’t get over 100 caps if you’re not a good player.”

Shilton won the last of his 125 England caps at the 1990 World Cup in Italy.

But Beckham, who is currently on loan at AC Milan from Los Angeles Galaxy, will break Shilton’s record in the quarter-finals of the World Cup in South Africa in 2010 if he plays a part in every England qualifier and friendly match to that point.

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