"We never do things easy but the 0-0 showed our character. We had our chances in the first half with the penalty and everything but that's in the past now. We're through."

England might have had a win had Beckham not slipped and skied a first half penalty high over the bar after a foul by Tugay on Steven Gerrard.

"The ground just gave way behind me," explained Beckham.

"When we were training last night we were told to stay out of the penalty area and when I stepped up to take it the ground just gave way."

Alpay taunted Beckham after that miss - "there was so much going on I couldn't understand what he said" - and as the players left the field at halftime Alpay jabbed a finger into Beckham's face.

"He just ran past me, clipped me round the ear, and said something about my mother, which obviously upset me a bit," said Beckham.

"But these things happen in games and we're the winners," he added with a smile.

England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson hailed his side's professionalism in gaining the result they needed after a trying week.

He said: "I'm very proud of the team. To do a job like they did today after the week we had was very professional and once again you see we have a good team and united group here.

"We were a little unlucky today and did not score a couple of chances but 0-0 is a marvellous result."

Eriksson hailed the solidity of his much-criticised defence, who dealt with all the Turks threw at them.

"At once you saw it wouldn't be easy for Turkey to score goals but you never know as long as it's 0-0.

"I'm very proud of the players and congratulations to them. They have had a strange week and the answer they gave today was exactly what was hoped for.

"They played like a team with a lot of experience and tried to keep the ball when it's time to keep it. We played balls into channels behind full-backs to take pressure off the defence. It was a marvellous performance.

"I really don't care that we didn't win, it's the result which counts. We tried to win the game and we never talked about 0-0 but today we did it. The European Championships are almost as big a tournament as the World Cup and we're very proud we're there again. We now have time to prepare, play some friendlies and look at a few players."

Asked once again about his future in the England job, he repeated: "Nothing has changed for me. I am getting a little bit fed up when I have to keep saying it."

England goalkeeper David James, who shut out Turkey home and away, believes lessons need to be learned from the fiasco surrounding Ferdinand's failure to take a drug test which led to his exclusion from the squad and reported threats of a boycott of the match if he was not reinstated.

He said: "We had a number of facts to work off and as soon as those facts changed we focused on the game.

"We got on and did the job Rio wanted us to do. There was a spin on it that was a fabrication more than anything else.

"I don't want to speak out of turn but the area surrounding Rio's exclusion needs to be reviewed. For a player to be allowed to leave with no-one stopping him needs to be reviewed.

"There was never any doubt that we were coming here. We had a game to play.

"The initial meetings were about trying to get Rio back into the squad and after day or two Rio said 'don't do anything silly, just get on with the game'."