Beckham confident of Owen but not his Spanish

By George Burns Jun 13, 2006, 15:27 GMT

David Beckham (C) during the training session of the soccer team of england in the Franfkurt Stadium, Friday 09 June 2006. On the right Rio Ferdinand. EPA/ARNE DEDERT

Baden-Baden - David Beckham says he is confident team-mate Michael Owen can deliver goals for England, despite the Newcastle United striker being substituted early in the second half of the 1-0 victory over Paraguay at the weekend.

'I wouldn't say he's not at his best but when I think when he hasn't played for a while then getting his fitness back up to a certain level is important,' said Beckham.

Owen is reported to be furious with coach Sven-Goran Eriksson for hauling him off after just 55 minutes of the Group B match in Frankfurt on Saturday but Beckham said he wouldn't question the Swede's decision.

'The manager is the one that makes the final decision,' said Beckham.

'At the end of the day with Michael coming back, we got 55 minutes the other day. He was good especially in the first half,' continued the Real Madrid midfielder.

'Michael will come good. He always does.'

Owen has scored 35 goals in 75 appearances for England but has played just 29 minutes of competitive football for his club since breaking his foot in January.

Beckham, who twice turned down requests to show off his Spanish language skills by the Spanish-speaking media present, confessed that while it was nice to see his wife Victoria and family on his day off Monday he was still fully concentrated on the task at hand - winning the World Cup.

'With Sven when we've had a free day he's always given us the chance to spend time with wives, partners and family. I think it's important,' he said.

'But we're over here to do a job. We're over here hopefully to win the World Cup.'

After experiencing the media frenzy surrounding Owen's substitution and Wayne Rooney's injury, Beckham admitted that he wasn't interested in following in Eriksson's footsteps and going into football management.

'I'm only the captain, I enjoy playing football,' he said. 'I've never enjoyed and I'm never going to enjoy managing a team.'

Beckham also revealed that the England players were aware of the criticism aimed at them by sections of the British media following their performance against Paraguay.

'We're aware about what's said about each player but there's a way of dealing with that and I think we have dealt with it in the right way - working hard and getting on with our training,' he said. 'That's the only way you can react.'

England next face Trinidad & Tobago on Thursday in Nuremberg where Beckham will come up against old Manchester United team-mate Dwight Yorke, with whom he won the treble of league, FA Cup and Champions League in 1999.

'He's a great lad but he's also one of the best strikers around over the years. The time I spent with him was an amazing time.

'He was a huge part of that team. It will be nice to see him,' said Beckham, adding however that he would not be showing Yorke and his team-mates any favours.

'There will be a lot of respect on that pitch from us to them and from them to us,' he said. 'But at the end of the day you want to win a football match and you have to upset a few people by doing that.'