JUST as Italia 90 was all about the tears of Gazza, so France 98 in England's sad case at least - was about the petulance of David Beckham and a moment of sheer madness which once again consigned the national team to the role of also-rans in a tournament they could, and some believe should have triumphed.

Distraught England coach Glenn Hoddle insisted �this is not a night to apportion blame' but there could be no disguising the fact that Beckham's sending off, for a childish kick at an opponent, changed the course of a game which was rapidly moving in England's favour.

Beckham, the modern-day Paul Gascoigne, began the tournament as an outcast but became a hero with his performance, and brilliant free-kick against Colombia in particular, only to destroy all he and Hoddle had strived for since the World Cup began.

England came back from the disaster of a fifth-minute penalty to equalise with a Shearer spot-kick soon after and, while Javier Zanetti's second for Argentina just before the break cancelled out a moment of pure World Cup magic from Michael Owen, the feeling remained that victory was there for the taking.

Beckham's ridiculous kick in anger so soon after the start of the second half, however, changed all that. England defended superbly throughout the remainder of normal time and again through an excruciating period of extra time, but ultimately the penalty, quite literally, was paid.

David Batty may well be case as the villain, missing the all-important penalty, but Beckham will have to live with the fact he committed a far greater sin than blowing a shoot-out penalty.

Hoddle, so defensive of his players throughout a period of public scrutiny, could no longer hide his feelings and after the devastating defeat he said: David Beckham has got to learn to deal with these situations. He wasn't able to curb his temper and he has to deal with that. Not the rest of the team.

Once it had happened, it changed the whole of the game and I believe that if we had 11 players we would have won the game and, ultimately, would be playing the in the final of the World Cup.

David