Beckham ready to answer England's SOS call

England coach McClaren flew to Los Angeles on Friday in time to attend LA Galaxy's training session yesterday and he will watch Beckham in action tonight, as well as monitoring his form in Galaxy's two further matches this week in Vancouver and Minneapolis.

McClaren,under pressure to guide his team to next summer's tournament, wants Beckham involved in the friendly against Austria in Vienna on November 16 and the final Euro qualifier against Croatia at Wembley five days later.

The importance of that game will be determined by the matches on November 17 between Group E leaders Croatia and Macedonia, as well as Israel and Russia. If Croatia take just one point in Macedonia and Russia, who have the formality of a final game against Andorra, beat Israel, then England will almost certainly fail to qualify.

McClaren's visit demonstrates how much he believes 32-year-old Beckham could be a potential match-winner if England's destiny is to be decided on the final day of qualifying.

The drawback for McClaren is that he will see Beckham play today only in a charity match against Hollywood United, a team made up of actors and musicians — hardly the kind of workout that will replicate the international clashes with Austria and,more importantly, Croatia at Wembley.

McClaren's transatlantic trip follows weeks of communication between the pair in which the coach repeatedly assured the former Manchester United and Real Madrid superstar that he was still part of his plans, in spite of Beckham's injury frustrations.

Ankle trouble, followed by more serious damaged knee ligaments,have restricted Beckham to a meagre total of 360 minutes of club football since his highly publicised move to LA Galaxy last summer.

The Hollywood match, in aid of the victims of last month's devastating fires in California, will be Beckham's first since Galaxy lost their last game of the regular MLS season on October 21.

But it will hardly be a true test of his match fitness as he is likely to come up against players such as Without a Trace actor Anthony LaPaglia, Def Leppard guitarist Viv Campbell and former Sex Pistols Paul Cook and Steve Jones. Former internationals Frank Leboeuf and Richard Gough are also due to be involved.

Beckham's injuries meant he missed all of this season's European qualifiers following his successful England comeback in matches against Brazil and Estonia at the end of last season and in the friendly against Germany in August.

That took his total of England appearances to 97, three short of his long-held target of becoming the fifth England player to 100 caps. There could be no greater irony than if England's failure to qualify left him on the 99th cap he could pick up against Croatia.

Much will depend on McClaren's future in the job, although there have been clear soundings coming out of the FA's Soho headquarters that he enjoys the continued support of chief executive Brian Barwick and other influential FA members, such as Sir Dave Richards.

Although it seemed Beckham's international career was over after he was initially dropped by McClaren, the situation has changed dramatically after his recall, to the extent that the coach regards him as a key figure in the England set-up.

Although several potential successors to his position on the right flank have been tried, none has proved as effective as Beckham.

McClaren is convinced that had he figured in all the qualifiers, then England would now be preparing for next summer's tournament in Austria and Switzerland.

Beckham himself has never lost his desire to pull on an England shirt. "He would play on one leg for England," said a source close to the player. "He has been working hard to get fit again and is confident he would not let England down."