Beckham: England confidence sky-high

David Beckham insisted the self-belief in the England squad ahead of tonight’s Euro 2004 quarter-final tie against Portugal is greater than he has ever known before.

While England respect the tournament hosts, Sven-Goran Eriksson’s side have not been considering the prospect of defeat in tonight’s clash.

“I’ve never known this sense of belief before. There’s no negativity in our hotel at all and that’s what is so good,” revealed Beckham.

“The talk has just been about beating them and that’s how it’s been all the way through.

“We really believe that we can win games and compete with the best. There are no egos in the team. We all just want to play well for our country and win.

“Sometimes in the past there has been negativity in the squad, but there’s not been one player this time that has been worried about one game that we’ve gone into.”