David Beckham’s three anniversaries

The World Cup is the major story in sport around the world right now and, as one of England’s most famous footballers who also played in the United States and is an MLS team owner, of course David Beckham has been super visible over the last two weeks since the tournament started.

David was in the suite with Tom Cruise in LA for the first match played in the US…

@davidbeckham Amazing way to kick off the World Cup in the US… Congratulations Mauricio and @U.S. Soccer 👏🏼 great to see so many passionate fans in the stadium ❤️⚽️🏆 @FIFA World Cup @Tom Cruise ♬ original sound - David Beckham

…and then at his second home in Miami to watch the match between Scotland and Brazil, where he was joined by Cruz Beckham, now 21 years old, but never too old for a kiss from his dad. David has always been openly affectionate with his kids which might read different now with all the drama with Brooklyn. Those who believe Brooklyn’s accusations that his parents are exploitative might see a moment like this and think: PR. And those who don’t believe Brooklyn’s accusations might point out that this has always been standard David parenting procedure.

On Saturday David was in New York for England’s final group stage match against Panama, a couple of days after the 20^th anniversary of one of the greatest goals of his career as a footballer. World Cup 2006, England vs Ecuador, round of 16. And, well, it was exactly what he was known for, “bend it like Beckham”.

@fifaworldcup Bending it like Beckham on this day in 2006 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿💫 #FIFAWorldCup ♬ original sound - FIFA World Cup

In sport though, there are highs and there are lows. And today happens to be the anniversary of one of his lowest lows – the red card at the World Cup in 1998 and all the ugliness that followed. He was excoriated in England at the time, and then exonerated in the years that followed, which was well documented in the Netflix series.

I’m thinking about this because the South Korean national team is going through it right now. Totally different circumstances, I know, most of the anger is being directed at the coach Hong Myung-bo for his decision-making, with accusations of cronyism now being directed at the Korean Football Association. But the players are catching strays too, as some of them returned to Korea along with Hong yesterday to hostility at the airport. If anyone might be able to relate to what this would have felt like for the Korean players, it would be David Beckham.

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Football is not where DB’s attention is at the moment, though. At least not in person. He’s been to Wimbledon two days in a row, observing a tradition with his mother yesterday and then back again in the box today.

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Tomorrow, England plays in Atlanta against DR Congo and he can easily hop on the pj to get himself there but it’s his wedding anniversary on Saturday so, you know, unless Victoria wants to join him, he might be watching on television.