Soccer Legends - David Beckham's Early Career The player who captained the English national football team

and went on to play for Real Madrid before heading to America was born David Robert Joseph Beckham o n May 2nd 1975. He was talent scouted by Manchester United and started playing f or them while he was just 17 years old. Beckham played a necessary role in Man U's domination of the FA Premier League i n the Nineties and Noughties. he was captain of the English National team for si x years from 2000 to 2006, although he signed to play for Real Madrid in 2003. David Beckham was born in London to David Edward Alan 'Ted' Beckham, a kitchen fitter. Ted was a big supporter of Man U and his son picked up his Dad's passion for football in general and that club in particular. In fact, Ted coached the R idgeway Rovers football team, for which David played when he was talent-spotted by agents from Barcelona Football Club. The first team that David played for however was a different London club, Totten ham Hotspurs. Meanwhile he also took training from the Bradenton Preparatory Aca demy and Manchester United's Youth Training Scheme. He first played for Man U as a substitute in 1992. He was very successful and he made his first appearance playing for the English national team in 1996 - only four years later. David did suffer from some bad pr ess over the following two or three years but his fans and supporters in the bus iness never lost faith in his talent. In 1999, Beckham was voted European Footballer of the Year and FIFA World Player of the Year. These accolades are not small things and David was on a high pedes tal, from which it is very simple to tumble. The media could not wait and Englan d's defeat in 2000 was blamed solely on him. Kevin Keagan resigned as England's team manager in 2000 and David Beckham was ma de captain. England got to the World Cup finals under David Beckham and a number of members of that team said that they were enthused by David Beckham's perform ance. It must have been true because he again won the FIFA World Player of the Year Aw ard and the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year Award in 2001 On April 10th, 2002, Beckham broke a toe bone. There was media speculation that he had been nobbled because it had been done by an Argentinian, Aldo Duscher, an d both countries were due to face each other in the coming World Cup. However, that year, in 2002, Beckham became the top paid football player in the world when he signed a three year deal with Man U. He went on to recover from the foot injury and play for England against Argentin a, whom they beat although they were later knocked out themselves by Brazil. Beckham had a tempestuous relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager of Ma n U, which led to an eye injury and Beckham departing the club. His game was aga in criticized in the 2006 World Cup when England lost in the quarter finals, so he stepped down as captain. However, in his career of eleven years, he made a to tal of two-hundred-and-sixty-six appearances and scored sixty-one goals. Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently concerned with <a href="http://watching-the-olympics.enthusiastically.org">watch ing the Olympics enthusiastically</a>. If you are interested in enthusiasm, go t o our website <a href="http://enthusiastically.org">Enthusiastically</a> now.