Beckham - I can handle Argentinean provocation

England captain David Beckham insists he is now mature enough to walk away from any Argentinean provocation in Friday’s World Cup rematch of the darkest moment of his career.

Beckham has already revealed how the fall-out from his 1998 red card in St Etienne made him fear for his safety and consider quitting the game or the country to escape the public abuse.

Now, buoyed by the appointment of the ‘‘best referee in the world’’ in Pierluigi Collina, he has the chance to erase that memory by proving how far he has developed as a person and as a player in the intervening four years.

Beckham retains an immensely competitive character but he believes that he has finally buried the temperamental streak that led him to flick out a leg petulantly in retaliation at Diego Simeone in St Etienne.

The England captain, who is now 27 with 50 caps behind him, accepts that the Argentina players could try to wind him up in Friday’s rematch in Sapporo but insists that he will not rise to any bait this time.

‘‘Would I walk away this time? Yes I would,’’ he replied. ‘‘I feel that I can handle pressure now. When it’s thrown at me, I feel that I can kick it straight back.

‘‘Maradona recently said something like Argentina ’weren’t much better footballers than us, they were just more cunning’.

‘‘Maybe that’s right but we’re footballers and we’re looking forward to every game. I want to beat every team that we play.

‘‘People will hype this game up and rightly so as there are so many things that have happened. But we, as players, have to put that to one side and concentrate just on the game.’’

Beckham is relieved at the choice of referee for Friday’s game, with leading Italian official Collina having been hand-picked for such a high-profile and tense encounter.

‘‘Don’t do that to me!’’ Beckham replied when it was jokingly put to him that Kim Milton Nielsen, who sent him off in St Etienne, had been picked again.

When the truth was revealed a moment later, he simply observed: ‘‘Collina is the best referee in the world.’’

Beckham has sought to put memories of that fateful 1998 incident, which occurred just after half-time in the second-round encounter, out of his head.

‘‘I don’t really think anything when I see replays of it, to be honest,’’ he insisted.

‘‘Obviously because Argentina are in our group, it’s been played over and over again, and people have asked me about it. But it’s in the back of my mind.

‘‘Beckham has bravely maintained that he will not dodge questions about the lowest point of his career in the run-up to Friday’s game, even though he has already admitted it ‘‘haunted’’ him and his family.

‘‘It has changed me as a person and a footballer. What has been the most rewarding thing for me though has been winning the people over through my football and on the pitch,’’ he added.

‘‘I could have done interview after interview, explaining myself and talking my way round it. But I’ve just gone out there and worked hard to get to where I am today.

‘‘And I have worked hard at that. It’s just been an amazing turnaround for me over the past four years.’’

When the Kop at Anfield chanted his name last year as England captain against Finland, it was the moment that he knew he had finally won the fans over.

Now all England supporters are desperately hoping Beckham will be able to last much longer against Argentina than during the 1-1 draw against Sweden.

In Saitama, he delivered the corner from which Sol Campbell put England ahead but his influence faded after 35 minutes and he had to be replaced after the hour-mark.

Sven-Goran Eriksson believes his captain will have benefited from his first taste of competitive action for seven weeks and could ask him to fulfil a more central role if he shifts tactics to a 4-3-3 formation.

Beckham is certainly determined to reinvigorate the team against Argentina, insisting: ‘‘I’ve got an affection for every one of the players. Even if I wasn’t captain then I would do.

‘‘Alex Ferguson said that you must be able to turn round to the person next to you and feel lucky that they’re in your team.

‘‘I can do that for every one of the players out here with England.’’