Beckham starts on the bench, but is already warming up after 10 minutes - possibly because Wright-Phillips took a knock early on. The first few minutes see good possession for the home side, but a couple of chances created by England. From early on in the game it became apparent that England would be playing 11 players from Spain plus the referee. A blatant foul on Heskey mysteriously became an offside against Heskey within the first quarter of an hour, and the ref continued to show home sympathies throughout the first half. Having said that Spain seemed to have the best of the game showing better technique, with England showing more rugged determination.
Spain got the goal they deserved on 35 minutes by a mesmerising David Villa who made and scored an excellent goal. England responded by attacking the Spanish goal, Heskey heading wide and once again earning a mystery foul (presumably the ref blew up just in case the effort was on target...).. As the half petered out it was becoming obvious that the England team was missing the forward thrust of Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney never mind David Beckham.
For the second half, Beckham came on to a warm reception from all sides of the stadium to claim his 108th cap for England.
In the second half, Beckham is joined by Robert Green (in goal), Upson, Lampard and Crouch, for David James, Jagielka, Barry, Downing and Heskey whilst Wright-Phillips goes to the left-hand side. Beckhams first touch from a free kick brought a save from Pepe Reina who had come on for the second half for Spain. The Beckham-Lampard axis in midfield promised improvement going forward as David Silva came on for Spain to replace David Villa. Just after the hour mark, Torres was replaced by Llorente. On 70 minutes the Spanish were looking comfortable in defence coping with anything that England could throw at them. Although Becham managed a delightful long-range cross which found Wright-Phillips on the far left, he cut neatly inside but wasted the shot by striking it straight at Reina. On 75 minutes Carlton Cole came on for Agbonlahor but none of the potential front-men pairings looked like much of a threat tonight.
The main threat on the England goal continued to be the French referee who eagerly blew up for another mystery foul which led to a second brilliantly-taken headed goal for Spain. In the closing 5 minutes Beckham threaded the ball through for Carlton Cole who rounded the keeper and cut the ball back from a difficult angle only to have it cleared off the line from a fast-returning defender. The referee was sparing with the cards, but had a rush of blood and booked Beckham when he questioned his decision to penalise Johnson for handling the ball whilst in the process of falling over having being tripped up by a Spanish player. Beckham hadn't paid enough attention to the rule that says if the home side commit a foul, the ref has to try and find a way to award a foul in their favour - In case you don't get the idea... the ref was shocking, but to be fair England were not robbed.
In conclusion, you can hardly say England deserved to win, the Capello plan for the match failed badly, in retrospect you have to say Beckham and Lampard should have played the first half, Rooney and maybe even Owen/Defoe/Joe Cole (ie. someone who can score a goal) were sorely missed, but the side was not that different to the side that defeated Germany in November.
After the game Beckham acknowledged the skill and good play of the Spanish opposition, he expressed his delight at gaining his 108th cap and recognised the contribution of his various managers for his longevity at this high level of football. Regarding his future in Milan, he said 'We'll have to see...' which I would take to mean as long as the negotiations go well, I'll be staying in Italy...
Capello recognised that the game was poor, and stated that he believed that England 'can do better...'
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