I'm crying out to be next Gazza

DAVID Beckham dreams of stepping into the boots that once made heartbroken Paul Gascoigne an authentic World Cup hero for England.

The ambition to emulate Gazza's impact at the highest level first took shape in front of his mum and dad's television eight years ago.

And tomorrow, in the Stade Velodrome of Marseilles, Beckham hopes to transform those vague longings of a starry-eyed kid into a reality.

If he lines up against Tunisia, he'll be strutting his stuff on the global stage that his fiancee Victoria Adams already knows as a Spice Girl.

At just 23, he is reaching out for the place in football legend that Gazza won, if only fleetingly, for himself.

Beckham said yesterday: "I watched every England game at Italia 90 on TV at my parent's home in London. I dreamed I'd be there myself some day. I wanted so much to reach the level of those players.

"My hero has to be Gazza for the things he did in that World Cup.

"Obviously, when you've played in the same team as him and been in the same squads, you sort of fall in love with him really, because of the sort of player and person he is.

"I'd love to make the sort of impact Gazza made. It wasn't just the German game, but what happened throughout the whole competition.

"Everyone was talking about him after that. It's upsetting for the team, the fans and Gazza that he's not here now.

"I do cry easily myself. I'm a very emotional person but hopefully, you won't see any tears here from me."

Beckham, like Gazza, would love to be at the creative heart of the England team where he craves a high profile beyond their mutual penchant for hair dyed blond.

Hoddle appears unwilling to indulge his wishes against Tunisia but Beckham, contesting a starting place on the right flank with Darren Anderton, insists: "The position looks a bit open with Gazza not here.

"I'd like to play in the middle. I played one of my best England games there in Le Tournoi against Italy.

"I was really buzzing and it felt comfortable playing with Paul Scholes and Paul Ince.

"I've played there, too, for England against Moldova, Saudi Arabia and for 30 minutes against Belgium.

"I do prefer that, but playing on the right is fine as long as I'm in the team."

You may feel Beckham's dynamic gifts and taste of the spectacular have their natural setting at the World Cup. Hoddle surely believes so.

Beckham won his first England cap for the opening shots of the campaign in Moldova and remains the only man to have played every game in the competition.

Without, however, scoring any of the goals for his country that have been his trademark all the way from Sunday parks football to the Premiership.

Beckham added: "I definitely think there's better to come from me. I can reach further, maybe by scoring a few goals.

"I've had a few chances when I felt I might have done better. Like the one against Italy in Rome when I got too much under the ball. And the ones at Wembley that came my way against Georgia and Portugal.

"I've always scored spectacular goals. I'm not a tap-in kind of player.

"So the goals I have scored mean expectations are going to be high. I'm not complaining because I have put myself there. But when I don't score a 50-yard goal people start to wonder what is going on.

"It's true I haven't scored as many spectacular goals as the previous year, but it does irritate me a bit to hear I was disappointing last season.

"Of course losing to Monaco in Europe and not winning the Premiership are still in the system but we have to get rid of that and go out to show we are champions.

"I played almost every game for United, one of the best clubs in the world, and for my country. So I can't have been that bad.

"Playing so many big games for United must help me because the World Cup is massive and nothing compares to it.

"The most important part of my game is my passing and keeping possession, and I work a lot in training on set-pieces. I stay behind and take corners and free-kicks on my own.

"A lot of things were said at Le Tournoi about my losing my head and getting booked. That's a year ago but it gets mentioned so often it seems like only yesterday.

"I don't believe there has been any problem of that sort for me during this last season, and I don't see any coming up now."

Beckham does have a hair-trigger temperament which, oddly enough, his celebrated liaison with Posh Spice is helping him to control.

He explained: "People do say things from the terraces about my private life and it does get too much at times.

"But I've just got to try and black it out. It would be a problem if I allowed it to affect me in the games.

"I just try to stick one in the top corner of the net when fans do give me stick.

"I've never said I had a hard life, though. It's just difficult to come to terms with things that have been thrown at me and things people want from me.

"But I feel I can cope with this because of the person I am, and I'm not going to go over the top about it.

"I enjoy playing football and I enjoy being with Victoria. That's the most important thing for me.

"It's a privilege for me to play, a dream come true."

Ah yes, the dream.

Beckham, no longer the unknown teenager who idolised Gazza at the 1990 World Cup, senses the day of destiny at hand. Perhaps even as close as tomorrow.

Copyright 1998 MGN LTD
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