Beckham: Call up 'unfair'

David Beckham has admitted it would have been "unfair" of Fabio Capello to select him in his first England squad.

The 32-year-old was not picked by the Italian in his party for Wednesday's friendly with Switzerland at Wembley, having not played for his club the Los Angeles Galaxy since the end of last year.

"I totally respect that and totally understand that," he said on Sky Sports News. "There are a lot of Premiership players who have played 15 games in the last two months and I haven't played a game since December - so to be called into the squad was probably unfair."

It is the second time the midfielder has been dropped by Capello after he was also sidelined during their time together at Real Madrid.

And Beckham has admitted he "half expected" to suffer the same fate he experienced at the Bernabeu a year ago.

"It's always disappointing when you're not included in an England squad," he added.

"The thing is I half expected it because I know what Fabio Capello is like as a manager and if he thinks you're not fit and ready to play then you won't be in the team."

Beckham has been criticised for interrupting his recent spell of training with Arsenal to jet off on personal trips to Africa and South America, but the former Manchester United player denies that those were a mistake.

"I'd done everything I could to make myself available, I worked hard for a month with Arsenal," Beckham insisted.

"I did go to Sierra Leone and Brazil, but those trips were only four days long and for the rest of the month I was training very hard."