Sven-Goran Eriksson has confirmed that David Beckham will retain his place in the England first-team in the World Cup ahead of Spurs winger Aaron Lennon, who was exceptional against Belarus last Tuesday.

Eriksson has never substituted or dropped Beckham for another player since taking over as England boss, and has said he will start both games with the full team that he expects to use in their opening match against Paraguay

When asked who should play on the right, Eriksson said: "Are you saying I should play Lennon instead of Beckham?

"Lennon does his damage on the right but Beckham also does his damage on the right. How many crosses does he put in?

"I think everybody agrees with the starting eleven. I know the team, and you would pick the same team."

England have two World Cup warm-up friendlies coming up this week, against Hungary on Tuesday and Jamaica on Saturday, before they play their opening World Cup against Paraguay on 10 June.

"If Beckham is fit, if Frank Lampard is fit, if Steven Gerrard is fit and if Joe Cole is fit, they should start," added Eriksson.

"The fact is that all four midfielders are in great form and they are all in excellent condition.

"It's not like before Japan when Beckham was 70%, half-injured.

"They are all 100% fit. They all did the fitness tests and were much better than two years ago and there was a huge difference to four years ago."

Beckham's fitness was very much in question four years ago, but Eriksson insisted he was right to play the midfielder in the 2002 World Cup.

"In Japan, Beckham deserved to play even though he was not 100%. We did not have Lennon in Japan.

"I am sure Lennon could play as a second striker in the last 20 minutes. He would come on, take the ball and run," finished the Swede.

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