GRAEME Souness is backing England to recover from their opening night upset and make it through to the quarter-finals of Euro 2000.

Kevin Keegan's side surrendered a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 to Portugal in their Group A curtain-raiser in Eindhoven.

But Rovers boss Souness believes England should have taken something from the game and feels they can bounce back against Germany and Romania to make it through.

"I think English people are at their best when they are up against it and I still think England are good enough to qualify," he said.

"I thought in the first half Portugal were better than England but in the second I thought they ran out of steam.

"In my opinion England were unlucky not to get something out of it." Souness, who previously worked in Portugal as manager of Benfica, added: "After 45 minutes Portugal had nothing more to offer. Nuno Gomes -- who is a player I have worked with before -- only touched the ball twice and scored with one and had the other disallowed.

"But England have got to pick themselves up."

Meanwhile, England midfield man David Beckham is to escape punishment for gesturing to the crowd after last night's defeat by Portugal.

The Manchester United player was barracked by his own supporters as he made his way off the field.

Although his 'one-fingered salute' wasn't picked up by most observers within the stadium, an eagle-eyed photographer caught the incident on camera as Beckham was applauding the fans for their positive support.

But a UEFA spokesman confirmed this morning that no action would be taken against Beckham because the incident had not been mentioned in the reports of Swedish referee Anders Frisk or the referees' assessor.

Gareth Southgate, however, believes England can learn from a 14-year-old lesson as they bid to recover.

The England substitute recalled England's 1986 World Cup loss to Portugal in Mexico -- also their opening game in the tournament -- after which they rallied in their remaining two group matches and went on to the quarter-finals.

"History shows you can make a bad start and go on to qualify - remember 1986?" Southgate said. "We'll do it again."

But Southgate admitted the shock 3-2 loss had turned Saturday's Group A clash with Germany in Charleroi into a must-win fixture.

He added: "The Germany game was big and now it is massive. It is not a case of making up for the past. Getting a result here is crucial to us at Euro 2000."