England: Becks comes of age

David Beckham admitted he "came of age" as England captain during the nerve-wracking final 15 minutes of the World Cup victory over Argentina.

The Manchester United star has been skipper since Peter Taylor handed him the armband for the friendly international with Italy 20 months ago.

But it was in the white hot atmosphere of the Sapporo Dome that Beckham became aware the other players were looking to him for inspiration as England tried to hold onto their 1-0 advantage.

Beckham had already led from the front by holding his nerve to score the crucial penalty that gave England revenge for their defeat to Argentina in the last World Cup finals.

Beckham said: "There were certain points where we were under enormous amounts of pressure and the players were looking at me when I was saying things.

"At that point, how important being a captain is to a team and for the players hit home to me and for the players to sort of listen to me and take note of what I was saying.

"I think it saw me coming of age as captain but I also think that night we had 11 captains out there and it was a big part of the game for us."

Beckham admitted that he was still on a high after the victory against the Argentinians but warned that it would be "absolutely ridiculous" if England now failed to qualify for the second phase.

A point against Nigeria on Wednesday in Osaka will be sufficient to take England through but Beckham is taking nothing for granted after the events of Euro 2000.

He said: "There are a lot of people with memories from two years ago when we beat Germany but then slipped up in the final game and went out of the competition.

"Then last September we beat Germany 5-1, but then really struggled against Albania and Greece at home before qualifying.

"We have been aware of all the scenes of joy back home in England after beating Argentina from speaking to our families.

"The party has just been going on and on with the Jubilee weekend, the Lennox Lewis victory and our success against Argentina.

"But there have been some shocks already in this competition and if we slip up now in the third game it will be absolutely ridiculous."