David Beckham believes he's become a better player in central midfield with Real Madrid. But the England captain said Monday he won't pester coach Sven-Goran Eriksson to switch him from the right.
Beckham leads England in a friendly international against Portugal in Faro on Wednesday, happy to play where ever Eriksson wants him to. Beckham plays in the center of Real Madrid's conventional midfield, but said he was happy to revert back to the diamond formation favored by Eriksson.
PHOTO: EPA
"It's up to the manager to do whatever he tells me to," a smiling Beckham told reporters.
"I'm enjoying my role in the center of midfield for Real Madrid. I think the diamond formation is no problem for me, I play not on the right wing, but just inside. I've not got a problem."
Wednesday's match will be 20th time the two countries have met. In their first meeting in 1947, England thumped Portugal 10-0 in Lisbon.
But Portugal won their last competitive meeting in a Euro 2000 group game. England was coasting 2-0 ahead after 18 minutes, before Luis Figo scored a brilliant long range goal to inspire a 3-2 win.
England was knocked out in the first round and Portugal went on to reach the Euro 2000 semifinal.
Beckham said beating Portugal would be great preparation for the finals, where England is the same group as France, Switzerland and Croatia.
"Portugal are a great team, they've also got some great players," Beckham said. "To go over there and play against them on Wednesday and get a result would give our players a big confidence boost."
England has been hit with injuries ahead of the match. Defenders Sol Campbell and Jonathan Woodgate are injured and Rio Ferdinand is serving an eight-match ban for missing a drugs test. Eriksson called up Tottenham's Ledley King on Monday as cover.
Up front, Alan Smith has been given another chance to impress after being dropped for England's last friendly against Denmark in November because he faced police charges for throwing a bottle into the crowd during a Leeds match.
"Not all places are booked yet for Portugal," Beckham said. "Any player that will impress will do so in these games.
"What's good about it is that the manager gets to see other players can play in those positions."
Smith's omission from the 3-2 loss to Denmark angered the England players who had earlier threatened to go on strike to support Ferdinand.
The threat came on the eve of England's crucial Euro 2004 qualifier in Turkey which severely strained relations between the players and the Football Association.
Beckham is meeting with FA chief executive Mark Palios, director of football development Trevor Brooking and executive director David Davies as part of continuing peace talks.
"We're on the right road to getting it sorted," Beckham said.
"We've got to all be on the same side. We can't have these situations because it doesn't help the preparation of any game for the players and the whole nation is seeing it on the front and back pages and that's the last thing anyone wants to do.
"A few months on, a few changes have been made. I'd definitely like to think it wouldn't and couldn't happen again."
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