Great Chance
Thursday, June 24, 2004

Rain fell on Lisbon for the first time since the tournament began yesterday and wisps of steam rose up from the parched roads circling the Estadio da Luz.

Inside the stadium, England completed their final preparations for tonight's quarter-final showdown with Portugal knowing that their part in this tournament is reaching boiling point.

Wayne Rooney is the man of the hour, some even say the new Pele, and even though the hosts and their own wonderboy, Cristiano Ronaldo, lie in wait, English optimism is running wild.

They know that Portugal will not be easy prey. They know their opponents' team is packed full of FC Porto's Champions League winners and that Luis Figo, one of the game's superstars, is thirsting to end his international career with a trophy on home soil.

They know that danger lurks on both flanks of the Portuguese side and that Deco could destroy them down the middle if he is allowed the time and the space.

But at England's hilltop hotel to the west of the city, the mood among the players is still that they are within touching distance of this country's first major football triumph for 38 years.

Rooney's astonishing impact on the tournament, the discarding of the flawed diamond and signs that Michael Owen is clawing his way back to form have helped to convince Sven Goran Eriksson's side they finally have what it takes to go all the way.

David Beckham explained it best yesterday. The England captain said that for the first time in his memory, there was no fear within the squad. No complacency, either. But an expectation of triumph.

"We realise this is a great chance for us," Beckham said. "The players are walking around the hotel with confidence oozing out of them.

"We really believe we can win games and compete with the best and a lot of that confidence is coming from the young players. To have that air of expectancy is a big bonus.

"I have never known this kind of belief before in an England squad. There is no negativity at all in our hotel. Even from the young players.

"It is 'We're going to beat them - we're going to win this game'. We watched the Portuguese beat the Spanish and they played well. But we know what their players can do and we are ready.

"At the hotel, a lot of lads spend a lot of time in the massage room because it's a place we can all go and we can all have a laugh and watch the games and there is a lot of banter in there.

"Sometimes, in the past, there has been negativity in the squad but in this tournament there has not been one player that has been worried about any game we have gone into.

"That is the freshness the young players have brought into the squad. I have not heard any player talking about any other team apart from ours. I haven't heard them talking about other team's players. We are not in awe of anybody any more."

Beckham received another sobering lesson in playing second fiddle to Rooney yesterday. "How's Wayne today," a television reporter asked him at a packed press conference.

But Beckham insisted he welcomed the fact the obsession with the young Everton forward had taken some of the attention away from him.

And he shrugged aside concerns that his own subdued form may yet be the biggest impediment to England's progress when they face up to Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Nuno Gomes, Deco and the rest tonight.

He said he had been playing a more defensive role because he was happy to sacrifice his own attacking runs to cover for midfield colleagues Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Paul Scholes.

"I know I have had criticism of my performances out here," Beckham said, "but I am a strong enough man to take that. People can keep saying that until the end of the tournament if it means we get to the final. As long as we keep winning, I don't care.

"I feel that I have been sitting in in midfield more than usual. The three other midfielders are very attack-minded.

"If that means sacrificing some of the things I can do so the other players can continue going forward and setting up chances and scoring goals, then I will carry on doing it.

"I think I have been improving with each game of the tournament. I have felt a lot fresher with every game. People will always talk about my form, good or bad. But it is not all about me. It is about the team.

"Last-minute free-kicks and important goals is what I have been about for the last ten years so when I don't produce that, people ask questions.

"As long as I carry on working hard for the team, that's what is important to me. I want to be able to wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and say I have given 100 per cent in every game."

Beckham talked, too, about Ronaldo and how strange it had seemed when he first saw him wearing the Manchester United number 7 shirt that had once been his.

He talked about how much help Real Madrid team-mate Figo had given him and his family as he tried to settle in in the Spanish capital. He talked about 'a certain arrogance' the right winger carries with him on the pitch.

He talked about how the only game he had felt nervous going into was the 1999 European Cup Final.

And, of course, he was asked about Rooney and whether it feels strange to him that he has been replaced as the country's footballing icon by a teenager from Croxteth.

"I'm not jealous of him at all. I'm not a jealous person. Wayne deserves the attention," said Beckham. "I just hope he will be left alone to enjoy his football because he is 18 and he has a long career ahead of him."

And to show that he meant it when he said there were no egos in this squad, Beckham added a touch of self-mockery before he left.

Someone began to ask him a question about all the players he had been compared to when he first burst on the scene. Beckham smiled wryly and interrupted him. "Never Pele," he said.

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