Beckham bullish on victory

THE mood was doggedly upbeat when England's bronzed captain David Beckham spoke of his ambitions of beating the champions France in tomorrow's fascinating match in Lisbon.

The sparkling diamond in his ear encouraged confidence, the easy smile bespoke an inner calm and the carefully couched responses said it all.

"We are here to win" he said to the persistent English press corps, "we respect France but we believe we are good enough to win."