England and LA Galaxy fear feud over Beckham

David Beckham has a clause in his £128m Los Angeles Galaxy contract that stipulates he can play for England whether he is selected for Euro 2008 qualifiers or friendlies and he will resist any attempts by his new club to stop him playing for his country.

The LA Galaxy general manager, Alexei Lalas, said yesterday that he would seek to restrict Beckham from playing in friendlies should he continue to be selected next season. "I don't want to stand in the way of a player representing his country but we have to be prudent and understand they have to be the appropriate games. I would think they would have to be competitive matches," Lalas said.

However, Beckham is understood to be adamant that he will not be prevented from representing England and would even invoke Fifa regulations that dictate players must be released for international duty.

With so much money staked on Beckham's popularity by LA Galaxy and Major League Soccer, the question of his availability to make the 11-hour flight to London to play for England is set to be a difficult topic between the player and his new employees. If Beckham thought his former manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, was opposed to international friendlies, the MLS are likely to be even less taken with the idea.

Beckham will make his debut for the Galaxy in a friendly against Chelsea on 21 July. Before then - and after the end of the Spanish league season - the midfielder has told his new club that he will keep fit with a private instructor.

Beckham is already in a quandary because the MLS season runs from April to November and his fixture list for LA Galaxy throws up some serious clashes. The team play the Colorado Rapids the day England play their Euro 2008 qualifier against Israel at Wembley. Four days later they play Russia at home - one day before the Galaxy's local derby with Chivas USA.

The October visit of Estonia to Wembley clashes with a Galaxy home game against Toronto while the crucial trip to Russia is a day before Beckham is required to be 4,660 miles away in LA playing the New York Red Bulls. And that is before friendlies are brought into consideration - England traditionally play at least one in August, a month in which the Galaxy have six league games.

Renaissance men: Other famous international comebacks

* GEORGE BEST (Northern Ireland)

Best had not played for Northern Ireland for three years when Danny Blanchflower picked him in October 1976 to play the Dutch in Rotterdam. Johan Cruyff was then regarded as the best player in the world. Early on, Best, then at Fulham, took possession, weaved his way across the field towards Cruyff, nutmegged him and proceeded to outshine him in a 2-2 draw.

* ROGER MILLA (Cameroon)

Having retired from international football, at the age of 35, in 1987, Milla moved to the Indian Ocean island of Réunion. After an appeal from the president of Cameroon, he returned for Italia '90, scoring four goals as they beat reigning champions Argentina and became Africa's first World Cup quarter-finalists. Also scored, aged 42, in the 1994 tournament.

* PAOLO ROSSI (Italy)

Having shown promise in the 1978 World Cup, the striker was banned for two years in 1980 for his involvement in a match-fixing scandal. He had played only three Serie A matches prior to the 1982 tournament yet was recalled by the Azzurri. Poor in the first group stage, he came alive to lead Italy to triumph scoring a famous hat-trick en route against Brazil.

* ZINEDINE ZIDANE (France)

Zidane had retired from international football after Euro 2004 but with France struggling to reach the 2006 World Cup he came back, initially saying he had been told to do so in a dream. Zidane later claimed his brother suggested it. With Claude Makelele and Lilian Thuram following suit, France reached the final, losing on penalties after Zidane's dramatic dismissal.