Beckham insists ankle not a problem

England's David Beckham today moved to allay fears over his ankle injury by insisting “it isn’t going to be a problem” in the final countdown to Euro 2004.

England captain David Beckham today moved to allay fears over his ankle injury by insisting “it isn’t going to be a problem” in the final countdown to Euro 2004.

With only 10 days until England’s first game of the tournament against France in Lisbon, the Real Madrid midfielder returned to training today with his team-mates.

Beckham went off during the game against Japan on Tuesday as his right ankle, which had been infected after a cut, began to feel “sensitive” again.

However, he said today: “It’s fine. The first thing someone said to me the other night was ‘aren’t you out of the competition?’

“So far definitely people have been talking about my injury but there isn’t one,” Beckham said.

“There’s been a niggle for a few weeks but it isn’t going to be a problem.”

Beckham also moved to calm concern over England’s lacklustre second-half display on Tuesday, and blamed tiredness for the disappointing 1-1 draw.

“People were raising a few eyebrows about how we played the other night, but for the first 35 minutes we played the best we have for quite a while.”

Beckham is also confident England are far more prepared for the European championships than the World Cup two years ago.

“I think definitely we are stronger. We have got players like Steven Gerrard and Gary Neville in the team who we didn’t have in the World Cup.

“We are a little bit more experienced – and we have got a lot of great young talent too.”