Barry hails Beckham’s century

Gareth Barry claims David Beckham has achieved legendary status by winning 100 caps as he revealed Fabio Capello reckons England have ‘taken the next step’.

England failed to create a single chance as they lost 1-0 to France in the game which saw Beckham win his 100th cap.

Barry believes Beckham has put himself alongside the greats and believes he can win many more.

“He’s made himself a legend,” said the Villa captain. 

“There are only a few players who have made that 100-cap mark and it was great for him to get it.

“He won’t stop there, he wants to go on and continue. He’s hungry and he works so hard for the team. He’s made it clear he just won’t stop at that.”

Beckham’s moment of history didn’t detract from a flat England display, but Barry believes Capello was satisfied.

“The manager said afterwards he was disappointed with the defeat but felt we’d taken the next step,” said Barry. “He made a quick point after the game that he was reasonably happy. He said we had moved to the next step, but he only had two days again to work with the team.

“Defeats are always hard to take, but, overall, especially from the first half performance, there was a lot to take from the game.

“In terms of confidence, I don’t think it will be affected. France are a great team, and we were away from home, so I don’t think the confidence will be affected too much.

“There has to be a lot of patience. The manager will know what he’s doing. We’re all in it together.”

England went from 4-5-1 to 4-4-2 at half-time and Barry, who played as a holding midfielder, could see the positives of both formations.

“In the first half we were compact and stopped them playing, but it fizzled out for us which is slightly disappointing,” he said.