Three reasons for Sven to smile

Ken Dyer13 April 2012

Sven-Goran Eriksson was today given three big boosts ahead of tomorrow's World Cup quarter-final against Brazil.

England captain David Beckham has shrugged off the pain he experienced in his foot after the Denmark game, Michael Owen came through his first training session since that second-round win and a dramatic change in the weather has come at just the right time.

A drop in temperature will give England confidence and the forecast is that tomorrow's match will be marked by low cloud and possibly more rain.

The England coach said today: "We are used to rain in England. It is better to play in these conditions than in the 35-degree heat that was expected. The players don't need to be told about the weather, they can feel it for themselves. If it is like this tomorrow, it will enable us to be more aggressive."

The England team trained for an hour in a constant downpour on the stadium pitch today as the wet season arrived in earnest in Japan.

Eriksson confirmed that striker Owen, who has been suffering from a groin injury, would be fit. He said: "Michael is okay. He's had some small problems with his groin but he has worked very hard and has had a lot of treatment and massaging.

"He is fully fit and it will not be a gamble to play him. It is a big boost to us that he is fit. Everyone has seen in the past couple of games how well Michael and Emile Heskey work together."

Midfielder Paul Scholes (foot) and striker Darius Vassell (back) have also shaken off their respective problems.

Eriksson said: "It is very nice to see all 23 of our players working on the pitch together. We came into the tournament with a few injuries and maybe things are clearing up for everybody at the right time.

"If we play like we did against Argentina, why can't we win? It is important that we are calm when we go out on to the pitch. If we are too tense we will not win."

But Eriksson did not appear too concerned that tomorrow's match referee will be Mexican hardliner Felipe Ramos Rizo, who has already sent off three players in the tournament, including Arsenal's Thierry Henry.

"I did not know that," admitted Eriksson when I broke the news to him. "But did the players deserve to be sent off ?

"I am sure he will do a good job tomorrow and we should not be worried about it."

A confident Beckham said today: "If you beat teams like Argentina and Brazil, then anything can happen. We want to take advantage of this and will do our best to win the game."

Beckham, who will be up against Roberto Carlos, said of his Brazilian opponent: "He is more of an attacking than a defensive player but there are a couple of occasions in the past when I've had success against him."

Meanwhile, there was still speculation in the Brazilian camp that Juninho could be dropped to make way for Ricardinho, the attacking midfielder who was only drafted in to the squad as a last minute replacement for the injured Emerson.

The former Middlesbrough man, who has been coach Luiz Felipe Scolari's No1 playmaker here, was left guessing about his fate today as he shrugged: "He'll only tell us the team at the very last moment."

ENGLAND
Probable

Seaman Arsenal
Mills Leeds
Cole Arsenal
Ferdinand Leeds
Campbell Arsenal
Beckham Man Utd
Butt Man Utd
Scholes Man Utd
Sinclair West Ham
Heskey Liverpool
Owen Liverpool

The Glenn Hoddle column
The Robbie Earle column
The Gareth Southgate column
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