Eriksson - has no regrets.

By Mark Bradley, PA Sport Chief Soccer Writer, Japan

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Sven-Goran Eriksson insists he has no regrets about his World Cup gambles on the fitness of David Beckham and Kieron Dyer.

Beckham was, by Eriksson's own admission, never fully-fit as he struggled to recover his sharpness after seven weeks out with a fractured foot.

Dyer, meanwhile, made two substitute appearances in the tournament but seemed to be trying too hard to impress after only just making the final squad following a knee injury.

The England coach, who even contemplated a third gamble on Steven Gerrard until he realised it was impossible, nevertheless feels vindicated in his selection of both players.

"I would not change that at all. I would do the same thing again," he declared.

"You don't have a second David Beckham, you don't have a second Steven Gerrard and you don't have another player like Kieron Dyer with his sort of ability.

"When you go to the World Cup, you must take your best players if you want to have a good chance to win it."

Eriksson added: "I'm very happy with what David Beckham did, he tried very hard and did very well considering that he'd been out for such a long time.

"He wasn't quite fit but you can't do anything about it.

"If you take away Zinedine Zidane away from France, you see the difference. It was the same with us and David Beckham."

Eriksson believes that England started to lose their midfield control against Brazil when both Beckham and Paul Scholes apparently began to tire.

"When our captain and Paul Scholes were getting tired, we lost our shape and control of the ball and that's very damaging. Those two, as passers, are among the best in the world," he revealed.

The England coach admitted his "frustration" at his team's quarter-final defeat as he "thought we could go all the way, especially with all the shocks there have been".

He added: "Unfortunately, in the second-half against Brazil, we just weren't good enough. It's that simple.

"Sometimes it's difficult to do something when you are sat on the bench. I could only get out the message 'keep the shape and move the ball instead of just knocking it out'.

"But it came down to two goals that came at very delicate moments in the match. They were killer moments.

"It's hard to respond after the first goal, then you go out again and five minutes later, boom, there's another one.

"We were physically tired and mentally tired. They tried, not in the best way, but I don't think you can expect that from a young team like that. They will learn though. I'm sure of that."