A bewildered England coach Fabio Capello said that the naming of sub David Beckham as England's Man of the Match against Belarus despite playing for just 31 minutes had left him completely flummoxed.
"Yes, I was surprised by that one. I just thought it was like Barack Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize after eight months as USA president,” The Sun quoted Capello, as saying.
Beckham was nominated by former Manchester United teammate Steve Bruce, who was analysing the match for ITV.
The LA Galaxy superstar admitted, "I don't know how I got that one. Thanks Brucie. I played with him, of course."
Sunderland boss Bruce insisted, "For me, David had the biggest impact on the game even though he was only on for 30 minutes. He is desperate to get on that plane to South Africa and tonight he lifted the whole occasion. You can't deny his range of passing and it's great for him that he can still play balls like he did out there tonight."
Beckham, 34, has now won 115 England caps and is near to completing another loan move to AC Milan to keep himself in the World Cup frame.
