LA Galaxy midfielder David Beckham admits he thought his England career was over when he was dropped by former coach Steve McClaren.

One minute he was England captain, the next he was gone. At 31.

"I've been through a couple of down points in my career and being taken out of the England squad was a big one," he said yesterday.

"That knocked my confidence a lot. I didn't think that I would ever play for my country again. I thought, 'That's it'. Things like that can affect you, and it certainly affected me. I didn't feel my legs had gone. I didn't believe I no longer had it. But confidence-wise, it got to me. I've always been quite a confident person but I took that on to the field, and maybe that was the biggest thing."