Beckham: Heat no excuse for England
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England skipper David Beckham says he's the man to supply the ammunition to fire the country to World Cup glory.
He said: "If I get ball and a yard of space I'll deliver it to someone to score.
"The way to get the best out of me is to give me the ball.
"If I am given the ball then 99 per cent of the time I will put it in the right space for people to score goals.
"I have done that for many years. That's my game - that's what I am good at."
Beckham continued: "There cannot be any excuses and I wouldn't say that if I didn't mean it.
"At the end of the day we have gone out of competitions when we should have gone further in the past and there have been certain excuses and things said by players.
"But it's literally up to us now. We are the ones who can progress as a team.
"The players in this squad, who have been in World Cups before, do realise that these chances do not come as good as this that often."
England complained about the 30 degrees heat after their opening 1-0 win over Paraguay.
Tomorrow, for the last-16 clash in Stuttgart against Ecuador, it could be five degrees hotter. But Beckham said: "We have got to the point now where we can't worry about the heat.
"We are not concerned. It is something that has affected us in the past - but now you are talking about the last 16 of the World Cup. You cannot let that affect you.
"You look at what this competition is all about. We are an English team playing in Europe, playing in Germany.
"The weather, the majority of the time, has been great for us.
"Everything is right and that does not happen too often. In four years' time it is in South Africa. Four years after that maybe Australia, I don't know. But we are talking different climates so these opportunities that we have at the moment, we don't want to waste them.
"We are not kidding ourselves. We have had situations that have not gone right for us in this World Cup but it is right now.
"We're not kidding ourselves. We've lost players through injury and had situations that have not gone right for us. But as a team we are right. The togetherness couldn't be any stronger than it is.
"There are a few surprised faces when there is a certain amount of negativity thrown at some players and team performances at times.
"But we are men. We can take that. We have got to take that."
Sir Geoff Hurst, 1966 hat-trick hero, is the latest to argue he should be replaced by Spurs whippet Aaron Lennon.
Beckham said: "To be honest, I don't care about the criticism. Everyone has their agenda and my agenda is to win the World Cup. I'm in a team that is very talented and has a great chance of progressing into the quarter-finals.
"It is not for me to sit and talk about David Beckham. It's for me to talk about an England team going into the last 16 of a World Cup.
"We have enough characters in the team and enough players who have played on the biggest stage. It's just up to us, and me as a captain, to put things right now."
He said: "If I get ball and a yard of space I'll deliver it to someone to score.
"The way to get the best out of me is to give me the ball.
"If I am given the ball then 99 per cent of the time I will put it in the right space for people to score goals.
"I have done that for many years. That's my game - that's what I am good at."
Beckham continued: "There cannot be any excuses and I wouldn't say that if I didn't mean it.
"At the end of the day we have gone out of competitions when we should have gone further in the past and there have been certain excuses and things said by players.
"But it's literally up to us now. We are the ones who can progress as a team.
"The players in this squad, who have been in World Cups before, do realise that these chances do not come as good as this that often."
England complained about the 30 degrees heat after their opening 1-0 win over Paraguay.
Tomorrow, for the last-16 clash in Stuttgart against Ecuador, it could be five degrees hotter. But Beckham said: "We have got to the point now where we can't worry about the heat.
"We are not concerned. It is something that has affected us in the past - but now you are talking about the last 16 of the World Cup. You cannot let that affect you.
"You look at what this competition is all about. We are an English team playing in Europe, playing in Germany.
"The weather, the majority of the time, has been great for us.
"Everything is right and that does not happen too often. In four years' time it is in South Africa. Four years after that maybe Australia, I don't know. But we are talking different climates so these opportunities that we have at the moment, we don't want to waste them.
"We are not kidding ourselves. We have had situations that have not gone right for us in this World Cup but it is right now.
"We're not kidding ourselves. We've lost players through injury and had situations that have not gone right for us. But as a team we are right. The togetherness couldn't be any stronger than it is.
"There are a few surprised faces when there is a certain amount of negativity thrown at some players and team performances at times.
"But we are men. We can take that. We have got to take that."
Sir Geoff Hurst, 1966 hat-trick hero, is the latest to argue he should be replaced by Spurs whippet Aaron Lennon.
Beckham said: "To be honest, I don't care about the criticism. Everyone has their agenda and my agenda is to win the World Cup. I'm in a team that is very talented and has a great chance of progressing into the quarter-finals.
"It is not for me to sit and talk about David Beckham. It's for me to talk about an England team going into the last 16 of a World Cup.
"We have enough characters in the team and enough players who have played on the biggest stage. It's just up to us, and me as a captain, to put things right now."
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