The England captain believes Rooney is winning his battle to be fit in time for the tournament after breaking a metatarsal bone in his right foot at the end of last month.

But he knows from personal experience that the healing process cannot be rushed and acknowledges that England may have to do without the man who was their outstanding player at Euro 2004.

"We want Wayne in the starting line-up," Beckham said after leading the England squad on a tour of the new Wembley stadium on Tuesday.

"He is one of the best young talents in the world and off the pitch he is great to have around.

"But it is possible he won't be there and there will be other players who get injuries during the tournament and miss matches.

"We have to believe we've got other players to come in and perform."

Rooney was among the guests at Beckham's lavish pre-World Cup party earlier this week and the skipper was relieved to see his team-mate in an upbeat frame of mind.

"I saw him at the weekend and he was in very good spirits. He looked happy and confident of being fit.

"But we don't want to risk rushing him back and then he ends up being out for four or five months. He has to be sure that he is right."

Beckham suffered a similar injury to Rooney in the run-up to the last World Cup and, although he played in all of England's matches in Japan, did not perform as well as he had done in the qualifying campaign.

Four years later, Beckham, 31, is preparing for what is likely to be his last outing in the world's biggest tournament convinced that both himself and England are in better shape than last time around.

"Touch wood, I'm going into this tournament without any broken bones, and I feel great physically and mentally.

"I want to be playing for England for as many years as possible. But who knows what can happen in football, so I'm just going to enjoy this one."

"There was the odd occasion in Japan when I thought we had a chance. But I think the belief this time is different.

"I think where it is, in Europe, is better physically for the team and there is a belief in the team. That comes from the young lads in the squad, it comes from the coaching staff and you have to have that belief to do well in competition."

England kick off their final countdown to the World Cup in Reading on Thursday with a B international against Belarus which will be used to give Michael Owen some badly-needed match practice.

Manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has also indicated that he will be giving 17-year-old Arsenal forward Theo Walcott his first taste of international action.

The Belarus match is to be followed by friendlies against Hungary and Jamaica in Manchester next week.