LA Galaxy ace David Beckham was England's peacemaker as senior players blew their top over Chelsea captain John Terry's ill-advised rant in South Africa.
The belief is players were divided by a feud between Steven Gerrard and Kop pal Jamie Carragher on one side and Chelsea skipper Terry on the other.
The Liverpool pair were incensed JT had spoken about problems within the team and also that he had tried to arrange all the players into a huddle on the pitch after the Slovenia victory - England's solitary success in South Africa.
They saw that as a direct challenge to Gerrard's captaincy and tensions threatened to spiral out of control.
But The Sun says Manchester United legend Beckham was brought in as a peacemaker to calm the whole situation.
He acted as a go-between and successfully cooled the potentially damaging dispute. A Three Lions source said: "There was a lot of tension between Stevie G and JT and it couldn't be allowed to fester.
"So Becks stepped in to act as a peacemaker. He spoke with both and sorted it all out.
"He helped clear the air between them and stopped the matter deteriorating further. But who knows whether it will all flare up again now we have crashed out of the World Cup."
