Eriksson salutes ‘sick’ Beckham’s resilience

SVEN-GORAN ERIKSSON saluted England captain David Beckham after he had played through sickness to rescue England’s World Cup dreams against Ecuador.

The England manager revealed he had not known Beckham was feeling unwell before the game and only realised when his skipper vomited after scoring his trademark free-kick on the hour mark which took his side through to the quarter-finals.

Said Eriksson: “I did not know he was feeling bad before the game. He didn’t tell me, for sure. In the second half we saw it all, he didn’t need to tell me.”

Eriksson refused to get embroiled with critics such as 1966 World Cup winners Sir Geoff Hurst and George Cohen, who had said Beckham should be dropped in favour of Aaron Lennon. Said Eriksson: “I have stopped saying anything to the critics about David Beckham. He’s maybe the best player at set pieces in the world and he’s still criticised.”

The Swede admitted he had been preparing to bring on Peter Crouch just before the goal went in, but would not reveal who would have made way. He said: “I’ll not tell that. It will make some players unhappy and why should I do that?”

Despite another lacklustre performance in open play with a new 4-5-1 formation, however, Eriksson insisted England were on course to win the World Cup.

He said: “We all know we can play better, but after four games we are playing better and better and the best will come.

“It’s strange knowing you can play better and you’ve already reached the quarter-finals. I’m not concerned. Everything will be okay. Germany are there, Argentina are there and we are the third team in the quarters. I’m rather proud of that. We will do better than we did four years ago. We didn’t create many chances in the first half and the last pass was missing, but it was better than against Sweden.”

Eriksson was also pleased with the team’s fitness levels in heat hovering around the ninety degrees mark and especially with the fact Wayne Rooney lasted 90 minutes as the lone striker.

Said Eriksson: “Rooney will be better and better. I’m confident of that.”

England could have gone behind after just 10 minutes when Carlos Tenorio cashed in on a John Terry headed mistake only to see his shot ricochet off Ashley Cole’s despairing tackle and rebound back off the crossbar.

Terry, who won the man-of-the-match award, revealed how the England players had later thanked Cole.

Said Terry: “The lads were all patting him on the back. He got a great tackle in. We know we need to up our game. We got through the group phase improving every match and we need to do that again.

“We have a lot more in the tank to give. A clean sheet is a great feeling for us. But it’s not just about the back five, it’s about the whole team and we are defending well together as a team.”