England’s World Cup hopeful Kieron Dyer should be fit to play in 10 days' time, according to Newcastle boss Bobby Robson.
The winger, whose hopes of taking some part in Japan and South Korea were last night boosted when Sven-Goran Eriksson summoned him to join up with the England squad in Dubai, has made "excellent progress" according to Robson.
He said: "His knee looks fine. He has improved dramatically. Our medical staff believe he is 10 days away from playing - that's playing, not training - and that wouldn't rule him out of England's plans.
"He is swimming and jogging and his knee is holding firm. He's not in discomfort and he's making excellent progress.
"Now it's up to England to look at him and analyse the situation. I spoke to Sven and [FA chief executive] Adam Crozier and passed all that information on to them," he added.
"They are going to try to get hold of our physios so they can make their assessment, but our people are very optimistic and so is Kieron."
Dyer had been told he needed a "miracle" recovery from a knee problem in order to make the tournament after being injured at Southampton last weekend, but has clearly made substantial progress over the past few days.
He has not been assured of his World Cup place, but Eriksson will at least assess his fitness in Korea next Sunday and Monday before the FIFA deadline of May 21st for official squads to be submitted.