Football: Specualtion affected David Beckham

England captain David Beckham has admitted frenzied speculation over his private life affected his performances at Euro 2004.

The Real Madrid midfielder failed to find his best form as England bowed out to hosts Portugal in the quarter-finals.

He missed a penalty kick as England lost 2-1 to France in the opening game and another in the penalty shoot-out defeat against Portugal in Lisbon.

Beckham blamed his poor performances on the low level of fitness work at his club, and that drew criticism from former Real Madrid manager Carlos Queiroz.

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England captain David Beckham has admitted frenzied speculation over his private life affected his performances at Euro 2004.

other than that, the rest is old news. IMO I thought world class athletes would have gotten used to the critism by the media. lol excuses, excuses. His free kicks and lobs at Euro2004 just floated in, had no power on them and no chance of netting a goal for England. There was a time when Beckham used to curve them into the bottom corner with power and accuracy. Saw nothing of the sort at the Euros.

Makes one wonder how Rooney will fare out for England and club team.

The thing with Beckham is that he has been in the spotlight for years and he does usually deal with the limelight well, but this seems to have got to him badly and it did reflect in his play.

Can he come back from it? I guess we shall have to wait and see.

With Owen going to Real he will have a friend out there with him and he might be able to turn it around.

What has Beckham got to do with Rooney??

Originally posted by TRD
What has Beckham got to do with Rooney??

They were both accused of having affairs, which is the "speculation over his private life" that your talking about. Rooneys pre-marriage failed, yet Beckhams survived.

[Edited on 8/15/04 by websurfer]

That was just Rooneys girlfriend he is young enough and will get over it pretty quickly...

They are just not the only two....

(All England players) Rio Ferdinand had one, so did David James. Gary Nevilles girlfriend did the dirty on him, the list just goes on.

These players wasn't affected in there play on the pitch....