Since 1998, the World Cup and David Beckham have become synonymous with one another.

Four years ago David experienced the amazing high of his first international goal with a wonderful free-kick against Columbia before he encountered the other side of footballing fortune after his sending-off against Argentina.

Now, having done more than anyone to get England to Japan, he has won his fitness battle and is ready to take center stage once more - though he was not always convinced he would be here.

"When I initially stood on my foot, I knew it was broken and I did think that I would be out of the World Cup," he revealed today.

"It was pretty bad at the time and it's been a long battle to get fit. I was certainly not always confident that I would make the first game against Sweden."

He added: "When you break a bone in your foot, you don't know exactly what is going to happen. But it is over the last four or five days that I have felt a lot better."

And he insisted he would now be able to last the pace in Sunday's showdown in Saitama.

He said: "Now I am ready for Sweden. I've trained the last two or three days with the lads. I will be able to last the 90 minutes on Sunday. I've been through a few tackles as well and it seems good.

"There has been a lot of hype around the foot and I've had a lot of well wishers from the family right up to the Queen.

"It's been great but now the focus has got to turn on to the players and the staff. It's been a little unfair on the rest of the squad because there's been so much hype around the foot.

"We need the focus to be on the World Cup now and all the thoughts should turn to trying to beat Sweden.

Speaking at his first press conference at England's Awaji Island base, the skipper is clearly looking to the task ahead with confidence.

"We have got to believe we can come out on top. If we go into the game worrying about the other team then there are big problems. We believe we can beat Sweden.

"We've been away from home for nearly three weeks but now we can give it full throttle for the game on Sunday. We want to get as far as we can. We are not just out here for a laugh and a joke.

With England about to face up to tackling the World Cup's hardest group, Beckham knows that concentration will be important.

"It is the so-called Group of Death. We can't afford any slip-ups and we will do as much as we can to try and ensure that does not happen."

In addition to overcoming his injury, the skipper has also had to deal with the unprecedented adulation bestowed on him by the Japanese fans.

"You go to training and there's 20 Japanese people running behind the coach shouting Beckham. But it's nice and you just deal with it.

"It's been amazing. I was personally looking forward to it because of the support I get."

There will be plenty more support across the globe for England against Sweden on Sunday. And those fans today got the best possible news - that the skipper aims to be leading the way.