NEWS ROUND-UP: Sven-Goran Eriksson received a significant boost last night when FIFA announced that he would be able to replace David Beckham in his England squad up to 24 hours before the World Cup starts.
Eriksson has to submit his official 23-man party on May 21st, 10 days before the tournament begins, and had expected FIFA to rule players could be replaced only if they suffered "new" injuries.
Under those circumstances, he would definitely have ended up with his squad a man short if Beckham, having been selected, failed to recover from the foot injury he suffered against Deportivo La Coruna on Wednesday.
Now, he has nine extra days to assess the midfielder, greatly reducing the risk of going through the World Cup a player light. Beckham could be replaced up to May 30th, as long as an independent doctor agrees he was injured. England's opening match is against Sweden three days later.
"If the England team were to nominate David Beckham in their squad in the hope he would regain full fitness before the tournament and then that was not the case, they could use a medical certificate to call up a replacement player," said a FIFA spokesman.
Eriksson had made it clear before FIFA's decision that he was willing to gamble on Beckham, saying he would pick his captain if there was a "small chance" of him being fit. He underlined how keen he is to have the midfielder by saying he might consider flying him to Japan after the rest of the squad if staying at home would help the player's rehabilitation.
"I should be more happy if he was with us and we could do the treatments," Eriksson said. "But we have to talk about that with the Manchester United staff and see what's best for him, what's the quickest way he can recover.
"When you talk about David Beckham, of course I'm willing to take a chance.
He's extremely important. He's the captain and one of the best midfielders in the world. If there's a small chance he can play in the first games of the World Cup we will take him."
Eriksson had planned to name his provisional 23-man squad early next month. That may now become a 24-strong party to ensure cover for Beckham in case he is definitively ruled out. Eriksson said one player would then be told he was merely on stand-by.
"I'm not fond of the situation that you go out with 24 players and then all 24 think every day: 'Is it me going back to England in a week?'," he said. "But I haven't decided yet what I will do."
The Swede said he was "optimistic" Beckham will recover for that match. "I'm sleeping at night and I think he will be ready," he said at the launch of his Sven-Goran Eriksson Classical Collection CD.
The thought that Beckham might not play for club or country between now and then does not worry Eriksson, but he must still plan for life without Beckham against Paraguay on Wednesday.
He knows that means finding not just a right midfielder but a new captain and a new free-kick and corner taker. Intriguingly, asked who can take free-kicks, he mentioned Robbie Fowler.
Guardian Service
