The England football coach Fabio Capello's dropped the strongest hint yet that David Beckham will be part of his side at next year's World Cup football finals in South Africa.
Beckham was only on the pitch for the last half hour of England's final qualifier, a 3-0 win over Belarus at Wembley which made it nine wins out of ten for Capello's squad in their qualifying group.
But he made enough of an impression to collect the man-of-the-match award with Capello endorsing Beckham's ability to come off the bench and influence matches.
The 34-year-old is expected to shortly agree another loan move to AC Milan for the second half of this season which will ensure he's operating at the kind of level England's Italian coach regards as essential if he is to be involved in what will be his fourth World Cup.
Capello admits he was somewhat surprised Beckham got the man of the match award playing just half an hour, comparing it to Barack Obama winning the Nobel prize after nine months as U.S. President.
