David Beckham's England career

FACTBOX-Soccer-Beckham's England career highs and lows

Wednesday, Mar 26, 2008 (Reuters) - Factbox on David Beckham's England career with the midfielder expected to make his 100th appearance for his country in Wednesday's friendly against France in Paris:

* Beckham made his England debut on September 1, 1996 in a 3-0 away win over Moldova in a qualifier for the 1998 World Cup finals.

* He scored his first goal for England after 30 minutes of his 17th international, a trademark free kick against Colombia in the opening round of the World Cup in Lens, France, on June 26, 1998.

* In the next match, a second-round tie against Argentina in St Etienne four days later, he was sent off two minutes into the second half for kicking Diego Simeone. He was largely vilified at home for his dismissal as it was seen as a contributory factor to England's loss on penalties after the match ended in a 2-2 draw.

* Caretaker manager Peter Taylor named him as captain for the first time for the friendly against Italy in Rome in November 2000.

* Sven-Goran Eriksson appointed him the permanent captain when he took over as England boss in January 2001. In the next game, Beckham's 39th international, he scored his second goal for England, against Finland at Anfield. He went on to captain England 58 times.

* On October 6, 2001 at his home ground of Old Trafford, he scored one of the most famous goals of his career -- a free kick deep into stoppage time that gave England a 2-2 draw against Greece and effectively sealed their place at the 2002 World Cup finals.

* He won his 50th cap in the opening game of the 2002 World Cup finals on June 2 in Saitama but was replaced after 63 minutes of the 2-2 draw with Sweden.

* In what he describes as one of the highlights of his England career, Beckham scored with a penalty to give England a 1-0 win over Argentina in the enclosed dome of Sapporo in their second group match.

* The 2003-04 season brought him mixed luck from the penalty spot, scoring against Croatia and Macedonia and missing against Turkey and France -- the latter miss in England's opening Euro 2004 finals match in Lisbon. He also missed a penalty in the shoot-out against Portugal in the quarter-finals when England went out of the competition.

* Became the first England player to be sent off twice when he was dismissed against Austria in a 1-0 World Cup qualifying victory at Old Trafford on October 8, 2005.

* Scored to give England a 1-0 win over Ecuador in their final group match in Stuttgart on June 25, 2006 to become the first English player to score a goal in three World Cup finals tournaments.

* Missed the first nine matches of Steve McClaren's reign as England boss but returned for his 95th cap against Brazil in the first full international played at the re-built Wembley Stadium on June 1 last year.

* Won his 99th cap against Croatia at Wembley when he came on as a halftime substitute for Shaun Wright-Phillips but even though he provided a stunning cross for Peter Crouch to equalise, England eventually lost 3-2 and failed to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals.