Group B: Emmet Malone on England's plight after the injury to Michael Owen has left them short up front.

His many critics may have to revise their assessment of Sven-Goran Eriksson in the wake of his observation yesterday that he is "not worried" about his striking options despite Michael Owen's return to England from this World Cup because of a serious knee injury.

Previously, it has been generally felt that the Swede worries too much, always erring on the side of caution and preventing an England team possessing a generous amount of attacking talent from ever playing to its strengths.

Now, it seems, he really doesn't know when he should be concerned at all.

"We have Theo Walcott who we haven't seen yet," remarked the England boss, "and we have many other players in the squad who can play as the second striker such as Joe Cole, Steven Gerrard and Aaron Lennon. We don't want any more injuries to strikers," he concluded, "but I am not worried."

In current circumstances the only good reason for Eriksson not being consumed by dread about his striking options is that there is now precious little he can do to address his plight and for that he has nobody to blame but himself.

The alternatives may not have been entirely thrilling but bringing Walcott to this World Cup more or less on a whim looked rash a few weeks ago and it looks all the more so now.

It would take a very brave or a very desperate man to throw the 17-year-old in for his first taste of competitive international football at the knockout stages of a World Cup. The Swede has never been the former and has not quite yet become the latter.

If one of Ecuador's big centre backs decides on Sunday, though, that an early recurrence of Wayne Rooney's foot injury might enhance his country's chance of making the last eight out here then the England coach may end up wishing that he had given that 23rd place in his squad to somebody used to scoring goals in front of medium-sized to large crowds.

As long as Rooney remains fit enough to play, there remain, as Eriksson suggests, a couple of other possibilities, but all attacking combinations now available to him - even the ones obvious enough to have been tried before - look makeshift.

Having been the team's best player in two of England's three game here, Joe Cole can scarcely be spared from the left side of midfield while a good many of Gerrard's obvious talents are sacrificed when he is asked to play a supporting role to a solitary striker.

Lennon, meanwhile, has little more experience than Walcott when it comes to playing through the centre at the top level.

And all of this is also to ignore the fact that Rooney is far more effective when playing behind another player, running from deep positions at or past defenders and creating space for those around him.

The reality is that when it comes to out-and-out strikers only Peter Crouch remains after Owen's departure, and being obliged to play to his strengths will further derail a midfield that has only fleetingly found its feet so far at this World Cup.

Eriksson's problems across the centre of the field are almost as profound as up front as was highlighted again in the second half of Tuesday's 2-2 draw with Sweden.

Gerrard is said to have been bitterly disappointed by the decision to omit him from the starting line-up and having cleared off the line and scored late on, he has some reason to feel he made his point.

On the downside for the English, however, Frank Lampard had thrived on the freedom he was given by the introduction of a defensive midfielder and his influence waned dramatically in the second half, while in the game against Trinidad and Tobago, the team came to life only after David Beckham retreated to right back in order to allow for the introduction of Lennon, who brought much needed pace to the right flank.

It seems a little late in the day to be sorting this sort of stuff out but Eriksson does at least have what should be one of the easiest second-round games to prepare for what promises to be a much tougher quarter-final.

And there was some good news yesterday with the announcement that Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville expect to recover from injuries (groin and calf respectively) in time for Sunday.

Both will be warmly welcomed back after England's calamitous attempts to defend set pieces late on against the Swedes.

Sadly for Owen the prognosis is far worse. The ligament damage he sustained on Tuesday will mean a couple of months on the sidelines, from where, he said prior to returning home to begin his rehabilitation yesterday, he hopes to watch England go on to "achieve great success".

Surely even Eriksson would be quietly surprised if his side managed to do that after the start England have made. The good news, though, is that no matter how bad things start to look, the Swede isn't worried.