INTERNATIONAL B*LL*CKS

Despite limping off on Tuesday Becks will miraculously be ok for the weekend. Of course that pathetic limp wasn’t merely a cover for a poor performance, and don’t you suggest it was.

"England captain Beckham shrugged off fears of an ankle injury by completing a full training session yesterday less than 24 hours after limping off in the friendly draw with Japan.

"Beckham insisted he will be ready, saying: 'I will be fine and it's nothing too serious. I hope to be fit to play on Saturday against Iceland and be able to train as normally as possible.'"

From the Sun:

Gary Neville believes England face “real trouble” against France — unless they tighten up in midfield.

Japan were given far too much time on the ball during Tuesday’s Euro 2004 warm-up, according to the Manchester United full-back.

And he fears England will be ripped apart if they allow that sort of freedom to Zinedine Zidane and Co on Sunday week.

“France have so much quality going forward — and if we give them the same possession as we gave to Japan, we could be in real trouble.

“With the quality of Zidane, Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet and Robert Pires, they will open you up and find the gaps. So we must make sure that does not happen.

“I don’t believe the team that started against Japan is set in stone. My United team-mate Nicky Butt is very good at what he does.

“The midfield lads are all intelligent players and it is an insult to suggest one of them cannot sit there and do the job. England teams in the past have been too flat in midfield. This diamond formation allows us to be more fluent.

“The diamond allows Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and David Beckham to all get forward and if Frank wants to push up the others can comfortably sit in for him.”

But England had a good 20 minutes:

“We passed the ball as quickly and as well as any England team I’ve seen during that spell. It is those elements we will be looking to take into the tournament.

"Yes, we did seem to tire quickly on Tuesday but that was because we have been training hard with a view to getting our fitness levels up for the France game.”