England must beware Argentines - Beckham

June 5, 2002

HIGASHIURA, Japan, June 5 (Reuters) - England captain David Beckham says he will not get sent off a second time against Argentina on Friday and warned his team mates against falling for any tricks from their World Cup group F opponents.

Beckham was famously red-carded when the two sides met in the second round at the 1998 finals, with Argentina later winning a penalty shoot-out and the England midfielder becoming a hate figure on his return home.

"I definitely won't be doing it again," he told reporters near the England base on Awaji Island on Wednesday. "I don't want to go through that again."

At the same time, Beckham felt he had benefited from the fallout after he was dismissed for kicking out in retaliation at Argentina midfielder Diego Simeone.

"When I'm asked about what happened or why did I do it, I've always said that I didn't want it to happen...but it's made me the person and the player I am today.

"There's no way I would be as strong as I am today if that hadn't happened. I'm stronger than I've ever been."

Beckham was wary, though, of Argentina trying to provoke England players when the two sides meet on Friday.

"As (Diego) Maradona said about their team, they're cunning players and if they can use things to gain the advantage, then they'll do that."

NOT CUNNING

"The English are not as cunning as that. We're professionals, we wouldn't expect our players to play certain tricks ... it's different mentalities."

Beckham revealed that given the relative youth of the squad, the issue of provocation -- and not reacting as he did at St Etienne -- would definitely be on England's agenda in the run-up to Friday's game.

"There's always that chance, obviously. Because if you're not used to that sort of thing it will happen. It's happened to me a few times in the past.

"It's something we'll be talking about, obviously. We can't go into a game with the young players we've got and not warn them about it. Every player has got to be warned about it.

"I wouldn't want what happened to me to happen to anyone."

Team mate Michael Owen was also wary of any Argentine tactics to unsettle Sven-Goran Eriksson's side.

"They do play a different style of football to us, a lot more shirt-pulling and grabbing, especially on set pieces," Owen told reporters.

"It is easier said than done not reacting to it. It is going to be a heat of the moment thing.

"But I feel we can keep our heads."