The England skipper will be 31 by the time of the finals in Germany in two years time and he recognises that his all-action style of play is unlikely to encourage longevity on the international stage.

"Maybe my legs will keep going for a few more years but maybe it is my last shot at a World Cup, to win something as big as that," Beckham said on the eve of England's opening qualifier, against Austria.

"There is a lot more football to be played but it would be nice to go into that competition and win it."

Having fallen at the quarter-final stage at the last World Cup and at Euro 2004, Beckham knows that his confidence in the current England squad being good enough to win a major tournament may look misplaced.

"I suppose some of the criticism we have had is fair," he said. "The last couple of competitions we have not gone as far as we said we would or as we expected to.

"With the talent we have got in the team we should get further in competitions. Hopefully it is going to be our year in Germany and that's what we've got to believe.

"We've got to go into this competition believing we can win it."

Beckham's England career has always involved rollercoaster lurches. Highs -- the free-kick that secured the team's place in the 2002 World Cup or the penalty against Argentina in those finals -- have been followed by lows, most recently in the form of the criticism that greeted his below-par displays at Euro 2004.

Typically, Beckham is using that experience as the spur towards a new high.

"If you are a high profile player and you play at a high standard, when you drop below that, even if it is not by that much, you get criticised," he said.

"You can either take that and go into your shell and not perform again or you can fight back. My mentality is to fight back and prove to people that I can play some pretty good football."

Having admitted that his form at Euro 2004 had been affected by the turmoil in his personal life following an affair with his former personal assistant, Beckham has regained a spring in his step that was conspicuously missing in Portugal.

The recent confirmation that he and wife Victoria are expecting their third child appears to indicate that family life is on a more even keel and Beckham said he had benefited from a good pre-season with Real Madrid, shedding the excess muscle he had built up by doing too many weights in the run-up to Euro 2004.

In last month's friendly against Ukraine, he was England's outstanding performer and on Saturday he is expected to get his chance to strut his stuff in the middle of midfield, courtesy of the groin injury which should rule Steven Gerrard out of the match.

"I'm more than comfortable playing in that role because I do it for Real Madrid and I can do it tomorrow," he said.

While insisting that he was happy to play wherever Sven-Goran Eriksson decided, there is no doubting his enthusiasm for being at the heart of things.

"Being in the middle gives you more chance of seeing more of the game, more of the play.

"You can play the ball right or left, whereas being on the right the options are limited. The only balls you can play are to the left."