DAVID BECKHAM today insisted he would be fit to last the whole of England's World Cup opener against Sweden - and urged for the hype over his left foot to stop.

The interest in whether or not Beckham would be fit for the finals has been so intense that he even received a message of support from the Queen.

The 27-year-old skipper confessed it was only in the last week he finally felt he would win his fitness battle after suffering the broken metatarsal in the Champions League seven weeks ago.

But now Beckham wants the spotlight to switch off him and turn onto his England teammates as they continue the countdown to the start of the so called "Group Of Death".

He said: "When I initially stood on my foot, I knew it was broken and I did think that I would be out of the World Cup.

"It was pretty bad at the time and it's been a long battle to get fit. I was certainly not always confident that I would make the first game against Sweden.

"When you break a bone in your foot, you don't know exactly what is going to happen. But it is over the last four or five days that I have felt a lot better."

And he insisted he would now be able to last the pace in Sunday's showdown in Saitama.

He insisted: "Now I am ready for Sweden. I've trained the last two or three days with the lads. I will be able to last the 90 minutes on Sunday. I've been through a few tackles as well and it seems good.

"There has been a lot of hype around the foot and I've had a lot of well wishers from the family right up to the Queen.

"It's been great but now the focus has got to turn on to the players and the staff. It's been a little unfair on the rest of the squad because there's been so much hype around the foot.

"We need the focus to be on the World Cup now and all the thoughts should turn to trying to beat Sweden.

"We have got to believe we can come out on top. If we go into the game worrying about the other team then there are big problems. We believe we can beat Sweden.

"We've been away from home for nearly three weeks but now we can give it full throttle for the game on Sunday. We want to get as far as we can. We are not just out here for a laugh and a joke.

"It is the so-called Group of Death. We can't afford any slip-ups and we will do as much as we can to try and ensure that does not happen."