World Cup qualifying, Group Six: As England gathered for the key World Cup qualifiers with Austria and Poland the squad unravelled a little.
The Arsenal full-back, Ashley Cole, has a stress fracture in his foot and will be missing for at least a month.
With Wayne Rooney already suspended from the first match, at Old Trafford on Saturday, there will be some concern, too, about the other main striker Michael Owen.
So far the Newcastle United player, affected by a "dead leg", has confined himself to working with the England physio Gary Lewin. "He will run (today)," said the manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, "and the (medical team) are quite sure he will train (tomorrow), but we have to see."
David Beckham was also absent yesterday. He remained in Madrid, where his three-year-old son Romeo was undergoing hospital tests after a recent illness. The captain is scheduled to join the squad tomorrow.
"I think he will be okay and not have any worries about what is happening in Spain," said Eriksson.
The manager's own concerns are merely of a professional nature, but they are awkward enough. The withdrawal of Ashley Cole is a particular surprise, considering that he did not realise the extent of his injury and attended Jermain Defoe's birthday party on Sunday evening after the win over Birmingham City.
The left back has not missed a game for England since the friendly defeat by Sweden in September 2003. The vacancy was filled then by Phil Neville, but while he is available again, he is better known as a defensive midfielder nowadays. Eriksson mentioned Jamie Carragher had been Liverpool's left-back "for a long time some seasons ago". He has also called in another Anfield player Stephen Warnock, but he did not make his club's line-up for either game with Chelsea last week.
While the most naturally-suited contender to replace Cole would be Kieran Richardson, he has only recently begun to play at left back for Manchester United and, with Gary Neville injured, there might be unease about inexperience in defence.
Eriksson himself is not shrinking from the games that will, with two victories, guarantee England's place at the World Cup finals and so atone for the debacle against Northern Ireland.
"For players, the time passes much more quickly because they have a lot of games in between," said the manager. "It has been a very long time (for me) and I am really looking forward to Saturday."
He has had enough of watching videos of the 1-0 defeat at Windsor Park. "It was bad, it was sad, and that's it," he said. The Swede was bullish about his expectations of the matches ahead despite his agreement that England have been poor in all their fixtures to date this season.
"We will play better football on Saturday and Wednesday," he said. While declaring a failure to reach the World Cup would be "a disaster" he felt his possible resignation was particularly hypothetical. "I don't think you will ask that question after the two games," he retorted.
In the meantime, he has decisions to make. He intends to use a 4-4-2 formation but has to decide on the centre-back pairing now that Sol Campbell, fit again, challenges John Terry and, in particular, the recently-criticised Rio Ferdinand. "One of them will be disappointed," he said, "but I am here to do that job."
Attempts are seemingly being made to quicken the level of aggression and there was a surprisingly energetic session at the Carrington training base yesterday. Although Eriksson claimed it had all been normal, there was a suspicion the mayhem was a declaration of intent.
During a passing exercise, even the club team-mates who were on opposing sides clattered into one another at full pelt. Alan Smith smacked into Ferdinand and the game continued even when Rooney, caught in the groin by a Richardson lunge, was laid out. Austria should make sure their shin pads are in good order.
Guardian Service
