It had been billed as a celebration of David Beckham’s 100th appearance for England, but instead there was a familiar sense of gloom around the national team last night as a miserable 1-0 defeat by France brought Fabio Capello’s honeymoon period to an abrupt conclusion.

England were outclassed for long periods at the Stade de France, with Beckham making little impression before being replaced in the 63rd minute. Only the fifth England player to reach a century, he was warmly applauded by both sets of supporters as he made way for David Bentley, his heir apparent, but, having produced a performance notable only for a first-half booking, the Los Angeles Galaxy midfield player did little to make a case for his inclusion beyond his 33rd birthday in May.

Capello, though, said that he was “very happy” with Beckham’s display and that of the team, while the former captain said he firmly intended to continue playing for England, setting his sights on the end-of-season friendly matches against the United States and Trinidad & Tobago and firmly dismissing rumours that he might announce his retirement.

“I don’t know where the rumours about quitting came from, but it certainly wasn’t from me,” Beckham said. “I’m very honoured. Of course things can change, but I want to carry on playing for my country. People will always question whether I can play at this level, but I was happy with my performance and, more importantly, my fitness. That’s the biggest thing. We \ are not into our season yet, but I felt great. I felt a lot better than I thought I would.”

Capello was similarly upbeat. “I’m very happy about Beckham’s performance,” the manager said. “He played because he deserved to play and he played like I know he can play. The reason I substituted him was because I know how he can play and I wanted to see other players.”

Those others did not include Frank Lampard, who spent the evening at the team hotel after complaining of a stomach upset. It is not clear whether the Chelsea midfield player would have started. Capello said: “He was fine until lunchtime and then he felt ill during the afternoon, so he stayed at the hotel.” Michael Owen was given his first chance to impress Capello but made little impact as one of four half-time substitutes.

With Franck Ribéry scoring the only goal from the penalty spot in the 32nd minute, after Nicolas Anelka escaped John Terry and was brought down by David James, there appeared to be fewer positives than in the encouraging 2-1 victory over Switzerland in Capello’s first match in charge, but the Italian took the opposite view. “As I told the players after the match, I’m happy with what they did,” he said. “We made progress compared to the Switzerland game, even though we won that game.

“Against a top-level team the players showed what they are worth. They showed me that they didn’t want to lose and kept fighting right to the end. That was the most positive thing about the night, especially considering the quality of the opposition.”

For Rio Ferdinand, captain for the first time, personal pride was secondary to disappointment after the defeat. “There was no prouder man on the planet today, leading my country out, but it’s not about personal accolades,” the Manchester United defender said. “It’s about the team and we didn’t get the result we wanted.”

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