Soccer: I never stop learning says Beckham

By TIM RICH

LONDON - When David Beckham returned from the last World Cup in France, he did so to headlines proclaiming him the most hated man in Britain and to his effigies hanging from lamp posts in East London.

Today, he faces a return to the sport's greatest competition, utterly changed in both his public perception and as a person.

He led by example in England's 2-2 draw against Greece at Old Trafford on Sunday, scoring the last-minute equalising goal that sent England to the finals in Japan and South Korea next year.

In France three years ago, he gave one interview in which, shy and bewildered, he tried to explain his feelings at being omitted for the opening game of the tournament against Tunisia.

The fact that he was asked to face the press brought the considerable weight of Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson's anger on to coach Glenn Hoddle's shoulders.

Less than two weeks later in St-Etienne, Beckham was infamously sent off against Argentina, provoking unseemly hysteria across the Channel.

As England prepared to meet Greece, Beckham was again facing the media, confident, articulate and actually enjoying the process.

Amid all the fuss around the revelations that Steven Gerrard had been drinking until the small hours in a Southport bar immediately before joining the England squad, it seemed Beckham was the person most easily able to advise the Liverpool midfielder on how to conduct himself in the silky but dangerous waters marked "off-field activities."

Thousands of pictures of Beckham have been published, but hardly any have the England captain with a glass in his hand.

"If people wanted advice, I would give it, but I don't think players need that," he says. "I'm still getting used to it [fame] and I'm amazed by certain things that happen. I'm always learning things."

Leading England out at Old Trafford would, he confesses, have been a ridiculous childhood dream when he was growing up in Leytonstone, East London, supporting the Manchester United of Bryan Robson. "I don't know if I would ever have dreamed it would have happened this quickly. To be leading this team out, a great team out, at 26, is astonishing."

He admits to feeling a sea change in attitudes towards him after he replaced Alan Shearer as England captain - when his brilliance was finally admired rather than grudgingly respected.

"You used to go to Wembley and there were parts of the crowd that gave certain players stick. That has changed completely.

"I was driving through London and people were giving me the thumbs-up sign. It's not something I'm used to.

"It is great to reach the World Cup finals again. Despite what anybody says, I enjoyed the last one. It might have ended badly, but I scored a goal [a superb free-kick against Colombia] and a lot of things have happened since.

"To reach these finals after the start we had and the way we were playing is an extraordinary thing. Every game was massive because we were always playing catch-up with the Germans, but we have done that and we have won the group."

Despite the average showing against Greece, there is a feeling that this could be, if not a great England side, then a fine one, without any trace of the Carlton Palmers who clogged up the national team in years gone by.

If there was a time when the real recovery began, you could do worse than point to England's last encounter with Greece in June, in which Beckham himself scored the final goal in a 2-0 win.

"There is a lot of freshness about this team," Beckham says. "A lot of our belief comes from the manager [Sven-Goran Eriksson], the calmness of him.

"Three points have been the requirement in every game.

"We have been under a lot of pressure and, for a young team, it had to come from the manager.

"We have always been on the verge of doing things in major championships for several years, but it hasn't happened and yet it should be happening because we have certainly got the players to do it, and now it's in our hands."

- INDEPENDENT