Eriksson remains positive

Eriksson praised the performance of Wayne Bridge

England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson insisted his side had nothing to be ashamed of after their 2-1 defeat by Italy at Elland Road.

England conceded a last-minute penalty to lose the World Cup warm-up.

But Eriksson announced he remained confident his side could compete with the best.

"We are on the right way," he said.

"We can play equally with Italy even if we try a lot of new players, and that is important.

"Italy are a big football country and they had absolutely their best players on the pitch. I think we did well."

If you are young it is better to make mistakes now than in the future

Sven-Goran Eriksson

The Swede admitted he was disappointed at the manner of his side's defeat, however, after Massimo Maccarone out-paced Ugo Ehiogu before being felled by David James.

Vincenzo Montella converted the penalty to seal the win.

"The only thing is that we lost the game in a little bit of a stupid way," Eriksson said.

"But if you are young it is better to make mistakes now than in the future."

'Learning curve'

Eriksson reserved special praise for Wayne Bridge, who gave an effervescent performance at left-back in only his second appearance for his country.

"He is a modern left-back who can defend well and is also very good in attack. He has a very good future," Eriksson said.

This victory showed that Italian soccer is not so poor

Giovanni Trapattoni

England skipper David Beckham also refused to be despondent.

"We have learned a lot and will carry on learning," he said. "We are a young team.

"Their first goal was great and to lose it at the death was tough. But that is football. We have to pick ourselves up.

"In the first half we did not pass as well as we could have done.

"Every player has to learn not to give the ball away so much.

"But the Italians are one of the best teams in the world. We will go on from here."

Italian satisfaction

Giovanni Trapattoni said that his side's victory proved that Italian football was not in as desperate a state as some commentators had been saying.

No Italian clubs have made it through to the quarter-finals of this season's Champions League.

"This victory showed that Italian soccer is not so poor," Trapattoni said.

"Montella scored a wonderful goal. We take this victory home with a great satisfaction but we must not overestimate ourselves now.

"We always do well on important occasions."

Montella, who has spent much of the season on Roma's bench, said he had become used to making an impact as a substitute.

"I'm used to come out from the bench and scoring," he said.

"It's a very important victory, although in a friendly match and I'm glad to have been the game winner."