Becks' thumbs up for World Cup bid

 

Impressed ... David Beckham at 2012 stadium

DAVID Beckham today gave a thumbs up to England's chances of staging the 2018 World Cup.

He said he was "confident" but not taking it for granted that England could win this week's crunch vote in Zurich, Switzerland as he visited the London 2012 Olympic Stadium for the first time.
Standing in the stadium was a "very proud" moment, not just because he was an East London-born lad but also because he could tell it would be a "beautiful stadium" to play football in after 2012.
"I think that maybe my sons have got a better chance than me [of playing in the stadium] considering my age but as a stadium it is somewhere I would love to play in because you can see the atmosphere here already is great and there is no one in it, " he said.
"When you drive up to it it has obviously got that awe about it.

High point ... Becks with Sebastian Coe, chair of the London 2012 Organising Committee, today

"It is a very proud moment, not just for myself but also for East End people, to be able to see the makeover of the area."
Beckham played a key ambassadorial role in securing London for the Olympics in Singapore in 2005 and was involved in the Beijing 2008 closing ceremony as the Chinese capital passed the Olympic flame on to London.
After his brief stopover in Stratford, East London, he is now off to see if he can help edge the 2018 World Cup bid to victory.
Becks said: "Hopefully I will make a difference. There are many people, like Prince William, who have been involved and working hard for the bid and to get it to this final point.

"We are going to FIFA and a lot of delegates because we need to tell those people about why we feel it is the right thing for us to get the World Cup.
"I feel that at the end of the day it is down to what the bid team have done. England have a history and tradition [in football] and it is about the benefits that can be generated by having the World Cup in England."