Beckham apologises for snub to fans

Sorry may be the hardest word; but not, it appeared, for David Beckham yesterday, when contrition rather than retribution was on the mind of the England captain.

Though tomorrow's climactic meeting with Argentina was the principal focus of attention at England's base-camp on Awaji Island, an "official" apology, as the England captain put it, was gravely delivered to the ranks of England followers who had watched their team slope off with barely so much as a wave of acknowledgement after Sunday's 1-1 draw with Sweden at Saitama.

And as for the performance itself, the declaration to a nation bemused by England's deterioration into a long-ball strategy was equally candid: Don't blame Sven's tactics. Blame us, the players.

Beckham, rapidly adding the role of diplomatic attaché to the England squad to his more obvious qualities, was adamant that he and his players would have offered due appreciation to the supporters if he had still be on the pitch at the final whistle instead of on the bench, having been substituted, after his first game in eight weeks.

"I'm the sort of person who, even when I'm playing for Man United, will stay out and applaud the fans and say 'thank you'," said Beckham. "It was unfair of us to forget the England supporters, and the Japanese fans as well."

Beckham attributed the lapse to the players' "exhaustion", but he added: "We've already had a meeting about it, and the manager's told us not to do it again. The fans have travelled a long way. We'll make a point of going over to them before the Argentina game."

In truth, those spectators would no doubt readily accept that unintended slight if they could be assured that their team will not lapse once more into the kind of unsophisticated football that was witnessed, particularly in the second half.

However, the midfielder maintained: "The manager wasn't telling us to play long balls. It was us as players. Even I was doing it at times. It was frustrating, because we played some great football in the first half." He added that it was something they had worked on since then. "We were playing a lot of long ball," he said. "We can't understand why we did it. It's not how we play. But we've had meetings about it and hopefully it won't happen again."

The loss of the captain contributed to England's second-half decline and he conceded that he was surprised by how leg-weary he became. "I was shocked. I'm the sort of player who can run for 90 minutes or more, without stopping. But my legs just disappeared on me after an hour. That apart, I was quite pleased with the way it went with my foot. I went into one or two challenges and turned quickly on it, and it felt strong, though obviously it was aching when I came off."

He will certainly need to be close to his peak to influence events in Sapporo. So will his team. "A lot of the players' heads were down after Sunday's game. But we've lifted ourselves now. We realise what a great team they [Argentina] are, but we believe we can go there and win."