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England national team captain David Beckham admitted that he intentionally committed a foul in order to receive a yellow card during the 2006 World Cup match against Wales, which took place last Saturday at Old Trafford stadium. The match ended with an English victory of 2:0.
"I did it intentionally," Beckham said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.
Up to that point, Beckham had already scored a goal against the Welsh team and also suffered a rib injury, which, according to him, would have prevented him from playing in the match against Azerbaijan on Wednesday.
"I immediately realized that my ribs were injured, and I would still be out for a few weeks. Because of that, I decided to intentionally get a yellow card and take a break," David confessed.
According to UEFA rules, a player who receives two yellow cards in different matches automatically misses the next match after the second warning. Since David had already been cautioned in this cycle, he chose to receive the second yellow card so that the suspension would fall on a match in which he wouldn't have played anyway.
"Many people think I don't have brains to come up with something like that, but I do," Becks joked.
According to Reuters, Beckham may miss several weeks due to the injury, but representatives from Madrid, where David plays, announced on Monday that he will soon start light training.
Two players are vying for Beckham's spot on the field in the England national team. One of them is Munich defender Owen Hargreaves. The other mentioned candidate for the starting right-back position is player Shaun Wright-Phillips.
