Beckham missed the first spot kick as England fell to a sudden-death penalty shoot-out defeat, with Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo later saving Darius Vassell's effort before scoring the winner himself.

Beckham was clearly disappointed to be leaving the tournament so early - yet he has made it clear that he intends to lead England in their qualifying campaign for the World Cup in Germany 2006.

Beckham said: "I am England captain and I won't be resigning that position because I'm proud of it.

"I couldn't be any prouder as England captain. When we walked off that pitch and sat down in the dressing room every player had given 110 per cent.

"Of course I'm disappointed to go out of the tournament because we have a great squad, but now we have to look forward to the next matches."

Captain Beckham also voiced his support for England manager Sven Goran Eriksson to remain in charge of the team.

Beckham added: "We want Eriksson to continue with us, he takes a lot of responsibility away from us all."

The match against Portugal could have ended so differently had Sol Campbell's late goal not been disallowed.

With the scores tied at 1-1 after goals from Michael Owen and Helder Postiga, Campbell appeared to head home the winner.

Referee Urs Meier ruled out the goal, but while Beckham admits it was a blow, he also insists that suchdecisions can play a big part in how far team's go in major competitions.

Beckham said: "I always said we could go a long way and I do believe that, but you also need luck.

"But we have no excuses, Portugal played well and we wish them luck. You can always look back at things and say we could have attacked more or kept the ball better, but who knows what would have happened?

"There are no ordinary games in football and we will continue to treat every match as if we are playing the best team in the world."

And Beckham spared a final word for the fantastic support in Portugal.

He said: "We can take a lot away from this tournament and we would like to thank the fans who have been fantastic, there is no doubt about that.

"The Portuguese people have also been fantastic, it's a shame we couldn't have had a Portugal v England final."

To listen to the full press conference with David, click on one of the links below

25 June 2004  
David Beckham Press Conference - AUDIO

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