Duscher says he's ready to apologise to Beckham

Deportivo Coruna midfielder Aldo Duscher held out an olive branch to stricken England captain David Beckham on Friday, saying he did not mean to break his foot and was ready to say sorry.

Reviled in Britain for a lunge tackle that left Beckham in a splint and England in torment as the World Cup nears, Duscher backtracked on his defiant initial reaction to the storm he triggered and said he now wanted to speak to "Becks".

"I hope I find a way to get in touch with him to explain there was no ill intention," Duscher told Argentine daily newspaper Clarin .

"And if I have to say sorry to him and the English, I will do it no problem."

That was a U-turn on comments he made to Spanish sports daily Marca on Thursday. "I haven't spoken to him about it and why should I? ... Would anyone bother if it was one of us that was injured?" he said then.

Duscher said he did not consider the tackle foul play, and thought the incident had been "blown up out of all proportion".

"It was regarded as if I had killed someone. I just went for the ball as I would against any opponent," Duscher said.

"When I play, I don't focus on whether I'm up against this person or that person. It is crazy to think it was premeditated. I would have to be a very bad person and I'm not."

Doctors forecast it will take at least six weeks for the broken bone in Beckham's foot to heal. The World Cup begins in exactly seven weeks.

Argentina's tabloids had a field day on Friday, slapping mocking headlines above pictures of the 26-year-old Manchester United midfielder in a cast and hobbling on crutches.

"Take it step by step. Make sure you heal properly, the first priority is your health. Why hurry up?," taunted Argentina's leading sports daily Ole.

Argentina face England in the first group stage of the World Cup finals.