text: I would definitely say Steven Gerrard is in the best position to lead the English.\n\nDavid Beckham does not command the respect of his teammates. He doesn't inspire at all cos he doesn't have pace, can't dribble, can't tackle and is basically good for nothing except sending in curling shots and crosses. \n\nGerrard can do much more. He can take the free kicks well, maybe not as well as Beckham but already excellent. He can shoot from distance from open play - just look at how many times he has scored. He can defend as well.\n\nAnd most importantly, he can inspire and commands tremendous amounts of respect from all those around him: just look at last year's Champs League finals against AC Milan and this year's FA Cup finals against West Ham. Look at how he rallied Liverpool to come back from 3 and 2 goals down respectively, and ultimately triumph on penalties. This is definitely good enough testimony to prove Gerrard's worth to England. For that, he should be made captain.\n\nWell, as for Beckham, how many times has he inspired victories? Furthermore he's been fluctuating drastically in form ever since he moved to Madrid. Even before the move, he was playing terribly at Man Utd. In fact, he was quite useless at Utd but just had to be fielded cos he was captain.\n\nSo lesson to learn is, ditch Beckham as captain of England so that he need not play!\n\nLet Gerrard wear the armband and lead England to the World Cup!