WEMBLEY, England – David Beckham moved up to third on England's all-time appearance list when he came on as a substitute against Kazakhstan on Saturday.
The 33-year-old former captain won his 106th cap as a 79th-minute replacement for the impressive Theo Walcott – a player 14 years his junior.
The Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder was greeted with huge cheers from the Wembley crowd and showed he could still play a bit, setting up Wayne Rooney for the fourth of England's goals in a 5-1 win that kept the team top of its World Cup qualifying group.
Beckham is now tied with Bobby Charlton, England's record scorer, in the appearance charts, and only trails Bobby Moore and Peter Shilton.
Moore played 108 times for England, while Shilton was in goal 125 times.
Although Beckham treated the match with his customary professionalism, he could have been forgiven for basking in the latest high point of an international career that only recently seemed to have stalled on 94 appearances.
Beckham was dropped by Capello's predecessor, Steve McClaren, after stepping down as captain following the team's elimination from the 2006 World Cup.
He missed nine England matches and was also dropped at Real Madrid, where Capello was coach.
But his dedicated training helped him win back his club place and he aided the team in winning the Spanish league title before transferring to the Galaxy. His year out of the England team then ended with a recall following a string of poor results.
Beckham remained in the team through the remainder of England's unsuccessful attempt to qualify for the European Championship, but missed out on Capello's first squad even though he was training with Arsenal in an effort to stay fit.
He sat out Capello's debut win over Switzerland this year, but became just the fifth Englishman to play a century of international matches against France in March and has been a regular in the squad since.
If he keeps contributing like on Saturday, he could still be about for the 2010 World Cup – if England continues its impressive start to qualifying.
