David Beckham rallied England by insisting that his belief in the team had not wavered despite their defeat to France - and urged them to show their reserves of character against Switzerland.

Beckham insisted before last Sunday's game that England were at least the equals of holders France and yesterday made it clear he had seen nothing, even in defeat, to alter his mind.

''I don't believe that has changed,'' he maintained. "We lost the game but, for 90 minutes, we were winning until they scored a free-kick and a penalty.

''So I still believe that if we came up against France again, we would give them another damn good game.

''As England captain, I still believe we can go all the way but we have to start by winning games and that starts on Thursday.''

Another setback against Switzerland would eliminate Beckham and Co, victory would put them one step away from recovering to reach the quarter-finals.

Indeed, the process of rebuilding morale began immediately after the final whistle in the Stadium of Light and has continued since.

''The manager let us have our space after the game, our families came back to the hotel and we were lifted by that,'' revealed Beckham.

''Then we had a meeting and Mr Eriksson said that we had nothing to be disappointed about. We lost the game but played some of the best football and our positional play was probably the best it's ever been.

''My mood is a lot better now than what it was after the game. We we were all down, some more than others.

''But as a captain now it's my job to walk around the hotel with a big smile on my face and not worry. Players need to feel lifted and I can assure you that all the players now are in good moods.

''That's what's good about being English, because the English mentality is to come back straight away and want to prove people wrong.

''If you can do that, you're loved in the country and that's what English people like to see - teams bouncing back from things.

''If we don't get a result against Switzerland we need, we're out, the players know that. But the players can't actually wait to get this game started.

''From the word go, we have to try and hit them as hard as we can as there's still frustration from the other night.''

The desire to exorcise those demons is understandable, although it is actually Eriksson's calmness under pressure which will now serve his team the best.

Beckham observed: ''That's what is good about Mr Eriksson. His calmness is essential at this point and all of the players respect him enormously.''

The England captain sympathised with Butt, who suffered medial ligament damage to his right knee during training and will miss the rest of the tournament.

''It is upsetting. Having someone like Nicky Butt in the team or the squad is very important and it's really sad for him,'' he said.

While John Terry will be fit to face the Swiss, Butt could stay with the squad and will not be replaced by standby midfielder Scott Parker as UEFA do not deem his injury to constitute an ''exceptional circumstance''.

Beckham has vowed to continue taking penalties for England despite two consecutive spot-kick failures as he declared: ''I'm confident enough to overcome anything.''

Fabien Barthez saved the penalty that could have put England 2-0 ahead in their Euro 2004 opening group clash against France on Sunday.

And while Beckham converted his first five penalties for his country, he slipped during his run-up in Istanbul last October to blast his previous spot-kick over the bar.

Eriksson had nevertheless insisted that his captain would not be replaced as penalty-taker in the tournament unless he wanted to hand over the responsibility.

Beckham responded: ''When I've missed penalties in the past with Manchester United or England, I've always said that I'll carry on doing it because I'm confident enough to overcome anything.

''Every Sunday League player knows there's always pressure taking penalties, whether you're playing at Hackney Marshes or in the World Cup final.

''But I'll put myself up again and take another one, if the chance comes.''

Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard have both missed penalties for Liverpool this season, with Danny Murphy having taken over from them, but Frank Lampard has been on target for Chelsea from the spot.

Beckham is nevertheless confident that he could beat former United teammate Barthez from the spot if England were to take on France in the Euro 2004 final.

The French keeper had claimed to have outwitted Beckham by studying his penalties in advance and refusing to be distracted by a sideways glance from the England skipper just before his run-up.

Beckham insisted: ''I worked with Fabien for a number of years and we used to have a number of competitions. I came off the better back then, but he guessed right this time.

''I would definitely take another penalty against him if it came to that. Hopefully there would be a different ending that time though. I don't think it's that easy to work me out!''