Beckham can also be axed, warns Eriksson

BADEN-BADEN: England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson has insisted he would be prepared to axe captain David Beckham if it improved his team's chances of winning the World Cup.

Beckham, who will win his 93rd cap in Sunday's last 16 clash with Ecuador, has been way off his best throughout the first phase and was anonymous for most of England's faltering 2-2 draw with Sweden in their final Group A match.

The Real Madrid superstar contributed only 28 passes, around half as many as fellow midfielder Frank Lampard, and offered precious little in the way of an attacking threat down the right flank.

Eriksson's failure to substitute his skipper against the Swedes has once again given weight to the view that Beckham is an untouchable in the England manager's eyes.

However, Eriksson insisted that he would not hesitate to drop or substitute his captain if the situation demanded it.

Asked if he could ever envisage hauling off Beckham in the way that Portugal coach Luis Felipe Scolari controversially replaced skipper Luis Figo at 2004, Eriksson was adamant he would.

"I'm prepared to do whatever I have to if I see things going wrong," he said. "Whatever."

Whilst making it clear that he has no intention of dropping Beckham from the starting line-up against Ecuador, Eriksson said his captain of five years should not take his place for granted.