David Beckham is confident he will be fit to play in England's Euro 2004 qualifier against Macedonia today.
The England captain missed training on Thursday because of a groin injury he picked up in a Spanish league match earlier this week, but he said the problem has responded well to treatment and he should recover in time for the crucial Group 7 game in Skopje.
"Today is the first time I've trained. We'll see how it goes, but it's feeling good and hopefully it'll go well," he told reporters. "I think I only tweaked the muscle, but you have to be 100 percent fit to play in these games."
England has to win in Skopje, then beat Liechtenstein to likely play for Group 7's top spot and automatic qualifying berth on Oct. 11 against present leader Turkey. England trails Turkey by two points.
"We're not underestimating Macedonia. They have been unlucky in a few games," Beckham said.
A stumble against Macedonia, which held Sven-Goran Eriksson's side to a 2-2 draw last October at Southampton, would probably end England's chances of direct qualification.
Beckham was confident England fans who do get into the ground despite warnings about traveling will behave themselves.
The English FA has requested England supporters don't travel to Skopje for the match. No tickets have been taken by the FA.
Fearing clashes between local and visiting fans, match organizers sought to discourage English fans from traveling to Skopje. About 2,000 tickets originally allotted for the visitors were given to the British embassy which, however, donated them to local charities and humanitarian organizations.
Nevertheless, some English fans were expected to arrive individually, without any of the usual logistic support or tickets reserved for them.
Eriksson will be without the injured Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard, Darius Vassell, Jonathan Woodgate and Trevor Sinclair in Skopje, and he's expected to field a young side that includes only four players with 30 or more caps.
Ferdinand's absence leaves John Terry in the frame to partner Sol Campbell in central defense.
In midfield the likely candidates to replace Scholes and Gerrard are Frank Lampard and Owen Hargreaves. Nicky Butt also is a midfield candidate.
In attack, 17-year-old Wayne Rooney is expected to partner Michael Owen, who has scored 23 goals in his 51 caps.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was