Thursday Mar 27 2008 08:24
David Beckham was happy with his fitness levels as he won his 100th England cap in the 1-0 friendly international defeat to France in Paris.
Fabio Capello had left Beckham out of his side for last month's win against Switzerland after stating his concerns about the Los Angeles Galaxy star's overall fitness.
But after playing for 63 minutes against France before being replaced by David Bentley, Beckham said: "The most important thing for me was to prove my fitness and I felt that I did that. I felt very fresh and a lot better than I thought I would.
"As much as you work hard in pre-season, there's nothing better than playing in games and I enjoyed it.
"Playing under Capello before, he knows what I'm like as a player so, on that side, you don't have to prove anything although proving my fitness was good. That was the biggest thing.
"It's 100 not out as far as I'm concerned. The wave at the end wasn't a goodbye, just a thank you.
"I spoke in the week about how honoured I'd be to get to the 100-cap mark and I'm very proud. To achieve 100 caps doesn't happen every day and to have my family at the game, and the support of the fans, was incredible.
"The reception when I came off from both sets of fans was amazing. You obviously expect it off your own fans and I thank them for that but, from the French people as well, it was an amazing standing ovation.
"I'm very proud of that and, if there was another place I'd have liked the game after Wembley, it would have been in Paris because it's where Zidane played. It's also one of my most favourite cities and I have a house in the South of France."
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