Owen Hargreaves has vowed to prove the England boo boys wrong as he aims to add to the many medals already won in his career by helping Sven-Goran Eriksson's side to World Cup glory.

The Bayern Munich midfielder was jeered when he came on as a substitute in the warm-up international with Hungary at Old Trafford a fortnight ago and received similar treatment when replacing Joe Cole in the tournament opener with Paraguay on Saturday.

But Hargreaves has successfully overcome other challenges and is confident he can do the same now, although he insisted: "I'm not here to please the masses, I'm here to be successful with England."

The 25-year-old said: "I've been around a long time. I won the Champions League and have been part of a double-winning team two years in a row with Bayern. I've won ten or 12 titles already.

"I've got 40 Champions League games under my belt, I've played against the best and performed in the biggest games.

"I've got belief in my ability. I take confidence from those things - and not from people who don't know me at all."

Canada-born Hargreaves admitted: "I've been everything in football. I've been called the wonder kid, the saviour, everything.

"It would be easier for me if everyone gave a massive cheer every time I came on that's not the case at the moment with some of the fans. I can take that. The most important thing is that we're successful.

"I'm very confident in my ability. The most important thing is that I believe and the manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson, believes in me.

"I've been an underdog because of where I was born and moving to Germany.

No-one had really heard of me but I broke into the first team, started in the Champions League semi-final and final and broke into the England team.

"I've proved everybody wrong along the way and I will this time as well."

Hargreaves added: "The people who have a go don't know me. I've never been booed in Munich so the people who see me week in, week out know what I can bring to a team.

"The English public don't know me. They don't see me as a player. In my first couple of seasons we played against Man United almost every season.

"I had the opportunity to play every year against Scholesy (Paul Scholes), Becks (David Beckham) and Giggsy (Ryan Giggs) and people saw me against those players and saw how I performed.

"When I've played from the beginning for England I've always played well but I've not really had the chance to play for 90 minutes since the last World Cup."

Hargreaves admitted: "I'm desperate for us to be successful. Whether that means I'm starting, coming off the bench, playing right-defender, midfield, whatever. The manager decides in what capacity I'm needed.

"My task is to go out and do my job. Whether people cheer me or give a negative reaction I'm not really bothered. I have the backing of the staff and that's the most important thing.

"Football is a business. Millions of people love football and some of them have one opinion, others have a different opinion.

"I'm not here to please the masses, I'm here to be successful with England.

"Some will enjoy watching me play and others won't. I know when I play well and the manager knows. If he's not happy I'm sure he'll tell me and he hasn't told me yet."