England's David Beckham is injured playing for AC MilanDavid Beckham's dream of playing in a fourth World Cup looks over after he tore an Achilles tendon in AC Milan's 1-0 win over Chievo on Sunday.
Beckham was unchallenged when he suffered the injury and hobbled off in pain before being stretchered away.
The 34-year-old was hoping to be part of England's World Cup squad in June.
But he will now fly to Finland on Monday to have surgery on the Achilles, according to AC Milan club physician Jean Pierre Meersseman.
Beckham, who is in his second loan stint with Milan from the Los Angeles Galaxy in a bid to make England boss Fabio Capello's squad, will now almost certainly not be fit for the tournament in South Africa which starts on 11 June.
"Beckham's injury makes us feel terrible. He understood immediately that he had torn his Achilles tendon," said AC Milan coach Leonardo.
"He is an extraordinary guy and today's game proves it yet again.
"I cannot enjoy this evening considering this serious injury.
"David understood immediately that he had torn his Achilles tendon."
Former Manchester United star Beckham was bidding to become the first England player to feature in four successive World Cup finals. He shares the record of three with Bobby Moore and Peter Shilton
With Tottenham's Aaron Lennon still suffering from a groin problem, Capello may now turn to both Theo Walcott and Shaun Wright-Phillips to cover the right side of midfield, with James Milner, Joe Cole, Stewart Downing and Adam Johnson also in the reckoning.
Beckham's sending off against Argentina in the quarter-finals was widely blamed for costing England their chance in the 1998 World Cup, while four years later he played in the team knocked out by 10-man Brazil.
The 2006 tournament ended with Beckham announcing tearfully he was resigning the captaincy.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/8567353.stm