Japanese fight to sleep in Becks's bed

The England World Cup squad has returned home in defeat but the passion the Japanese hold for skipper David Beckham and his team seems limitless.

The Westin Awaji Island Resort - where the team stayed for a month during the tournament - has been flooded with more than 80 calls a day from Japanese fans desperate to spend the night in the hotel rooms where their heroes slept.

Meanwhile, local government officials plan to erect statues of Beckham, striker Michael Owen and coach Sven-Goran Eriksson in the tiny town of Tsuna, where the team practised.

At the hotel near Kobe, where the squad checked out almost a week ago, a spokeswoman said the fans will never know who used the bed they are sleeping in.

"We don't reveal which player was staying in which room for privacy reasons," she said. "We would do the same for any customer." However, the die-hards, many of whom waited around the hotel for hours to glimpse the players, will get a chance to try Beckham's favourite dish - - cucumber sushi. They can also have their feet massaged by the woman who worked on Beckham's.

There are even plans to rename a road after the team and keep their autographed kit on permanent display. Before the first tournament ball had been kicked, Japanese teenagers, many in Beckham or Owen T-shirts, were raving over their heroes in scenes reminiscent of Beatlemania.