Beckham admits he was embarrassed by the performance in Copenhagen as England lost 4-1 the Danes.

But he is thankful it happened in a friendly match and not in a competitive game - and now he wants it to act as a wake-up call ahead of World Cup qualifiers against Wales and Northern Ireland next month.

The Real Madrid man said: "The positive thing is it was a friendly. That is all we can take out of the game. If we perform like that in a qualifying game we’re in trouble.

"Everyone is talking about the excitement of the World Cup but we have a lot to do yet and we have four tough qualifying games coming up.

Confidence-wise, we just have to forget about this and in two weeks' time we have a tough game against Wales.

"We have talent there and the potential of doing something in a big competition. But we have to get there first. There is a lot of work to be done. The most important thing now is to get our heads down and work hard."

Beckham is at a loss to explain what went wrong in Denmark but admits it was a quiet dressing room afterwards as the Three Lions licked their wounds.

He added: "I don't know what you can put it down to, whether it be the fitness of the team at this stage of the season or something like that. But there are no excuses; we should still be winning these games.

"It is a bit of a slap round the face. If there is a good time to get a beating like this, a friendly is the time to get it, but it is still disappointing because we have lost a game in front of a lot of our fans.

"I don't know why the urgency wasn't there. It doesn't usually matter whether it is a qualifying game or a friendly; the lads usually put 110 per cent in.

"Straight after the game, it is tough to say anything to anyone. The changing room was quiet afterwards. The only positive we can take is that it was a friendly game."