Beckham out of World Cup
Associated Press
LONDON
Unless David Beckham can mend it as well as he can bend it, soccer’s now-limping glamour boy will miss this summer’s World Cup — a blow to tournament organizers, sponsors, TV viewers and average fans.
Beckham underwent surgery Monday for a “totally torn” left Achilles’ tendon and is expected to be out of action for about six months, said Dr. Sakari Orava, who performed the operation. The 34-year-old midfielder was injured Sunday while playing for Italian club AC Milan.
“He will have to take it very easy during the next two to three weeks or a month, and then he will continue with a recuperation program slowly,” Orava said. “The foot won’t take much strain for two to three months.”
Orava also said it would be “four months to running,” and another two months before playing.
Beckham’s spokesman, Simon Oliveira, said the tendon was completely repaired, and he expected Beckham to return to the game.
“David is expected to make a full recovery,” Oliveira said.
That means Beckham won’t be bending free kicks or curling pinpoint passes at the World Cup that begins June 11 in South Africa — what he had hoped would be his fourth appearance for England at the tournament.
But most experts expect that Beckham will eventually be back.
He has such a giant personality that his legacy may even grow stronger.
“While it’s a horrible setback for the man — everybody knows how much he would have loved to be at the World Cup — his future is as bright as it’s ever been because of the kind of following he’s built up in the last decade,” celebrity publicist Max Clifford said.
Beckham was injured in the closing minutes of AC Milan’s 1-0 win over Chievo Verona. Walking with crutches, he was cheered by hundreds of fans as he checked into a hospital in Turku, Finland, after arriving by private jet.