World Cup:There was good news from the England camp after Wayne Rooney and Ashley Cole returned to training after the pair missed yesterday's session. Gareth Barry also suggested he will be fit to line out against Algeria if selected.
Cole had to do rehabilitation work on old injuries and Rooney nursed an ankle knock he picked up in the opening World Cup draw against the United States.
The pair were fit enough to return to this morning’s session as England prepare for Friday's Group C game against Algeria in Cape Town.
The one absentee was Ledley King. His presence in the remainder of the competition is in doubt after the Tottenham captain was forced out at half-time at the weekend due to a groin injury.
And although club manager Harry Redknapp hinted King has had a scan and could be out for three weeks, the FA have so far refused to speculate on how long the defender will be sidelined.
However, it seems unlikely King will be involved until the semi-finals at the earliest, if England get that far.
Meanwhile England and manager Fabio Capello have been on the receiving end of a stinging attack from German legend Franz Beckenbauer, who questioned their brand of football against the USA.
In a column for South African newspaper The Times, Beckenbauer said: "What I saw of the English against the USA had very little to do with football.
"It looked to me as if the English have gone backwards into the bad old days of kick and rush.
"I am not sure if the England coach Fabio Capello can still change much there.
"The English are being punished for the fact that there are very few English players in the Premier League as clubs use better foreign players from all over the world."
Earlier in the day Barry insisted he will be "spot on" in terms of fitness for the Algeria game after admitting it was touch and go at one stage whether he would make the squad.
The midfielder revealed his ankle - injured when playing for Manchester City against Tottenham in early May - is fully recovered.
Barry is confident another week's training before the encounter in Cape Town will leave him 100 per cent ready should he be required by Capello.
He said: "The ankle has been fine for 10 days. Another week's training in the lead-up to the Algeria game and I should be spot on.
"If the manager had asked me if I was ready to play against the United States at the weekend, I would have bitten his hand off to try and make the starting team.
"I was desperate for us to go two or three goals up and then he might have thrown me on!"
That desperation is borne out of the fact Barry is involved in his first World Cup after being overlooked for 2002 and 2006 by Sven-Goran Eriksson.
He said: "It has felt like the World Cup was never going to come for me.
"Midway through the Sven-Goran Eriksson era, my England career and the World Cup looked miles away.
"When the injury came, it felt like it was one of those things, that it (the World Cup) was not going to happen. But it was important I never stopped believing."
Barry even slept in an oxygen tent to try to win his fitness fight.
He said: "We had a few hot days in England and the tent was tough to sleep in with the heat.
"Every morning they were booking me into an oxygen chamber for an hour and a half, getting that in the lungs. They say that speeds up the process of healing.
"All these things and the treatment they gave me probably got me ahead of where I should have been.
"But it was always touch and go whether I could make the squad."
Barry added: "I hadn't spoken to anybody from the management staff here. Reports you read in the paper, you never know how true they are.
"In some quarters they were writing me off as though they knew more than I did. I was nervous waiting for a phone call.
"Eventually Franco Baldini (general manager) called me and wanted to hear from me how I felt and if I really felt I had a good chance.
"Probably even if I didn't, I'd have still told him I did. I tried to be up front and tell him how it was and at that stage I was confident.