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Beckham: England staying positive
David Beckham has insisted the mood in the England camp was good despite the injury problems currently afflicting Sven-Goran Eriksson's side at Euro 2004.
Nicky Butt's tournament is effectively over after a scan revealed medial ligament damage in his right knee which is likely to sideline him for three to four weeks. And Paul Scholes was unable to train today and is given only a 50/50 chance of recovering from an ankle problem sustained against France on Sunday. Beckham himself missed training on Tuesday - but his situation is not as serious. He said: "Some of the players have got blisters and three of us decided to sit out training because they're quite sore. "I decided the best thing was to go to the gym, on the bike and have a stretch and a massage." Beckham sympathised with Butt's situation, continuing: "It's upsetting because having Nicky in the squad is very important - it's really sad for him." However, despite the injury setbacks and the manner of the 2-1 defeat on Sunday - with two Zinedine Zidane goals in injury-time turning things round in France's favour - Beckham says the players are not feeling sorry for themselves anymore. He told a press conference: "My role as captain is to lift the players - but I'm lucky we've got a number of players in the team who can do that, as well as the manager. "I'll carry on doing it up until the game on Thursday because it's important we lift ourselves. "The players need to feel lifted and I can assure you they are all in good moods." On a personal level, Beckham was adamant he can bounce back from the disappointment of seeing Fabien Barthez save his penalty on Sunday. The Real Madrid midfielder added: "Whenever I've missed a penalty in the past for Manchester United or England I've always said I'd carry on taking them because I've the confidence to overcome anything. "My mood is a lot better - we were all down as a team but it's my responsibility to walk round the hotel with a big smile on my face and not worry about the last game."
Beckham insisted he would happily step up to take a penalty for England again despite the crucial miss against France. "There's always pressure when you're taking penalties, every player knows that - every Sunday League player knows that. "There's pressure whether you're taking a penalty on Hackney Marshes or in the World Cup final. But I'll put myself up again and take another one if needs be." The Real Madrid star believes the trauma of the France defeat is behind the team and they have now worked through the shock of losing despite leading after 90 minutes. "The manager let us have our own space, our families came back to the hotel and all the players were lifted by that. "The manager had a meeting last night with everyone and told us we had got nothing to be disappointed about. For 90 minutes we played some of our best football, our positional play in that game was possibly the best it's ever been. That's what we can take from the game and concentrate on now. "If we don't get a result against Switzerland we need, we're out, the players know that. But the players can't actually wait to get this game started. "From the word go we have to try and hit them as hard as we can and use the frustration from the other night," Beckham told Sky Sports News. |
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