Time to wait and see

BBC Sport's Mark Lawrenson argues that it is too early to panic about David Beckham's chances of playing at the World Cup.

The injury to David Beckham is a real cause for concern - but let's not panic just yet.

There is no doubt that he is one of England's key four players, along with Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen.

And if any of these players sustains a serious injury it is very bleak news for England.

That Beckham has broken a bone in his foot with the World Cup just seven weeks away has understandably grabbed all the headlines.

Beckham was injured playing for Manchester United

But it is important to remember that - to a large extent - everybody is speculating at the moment.

The first couple of weeks are by far the most important and after this period we'll have a much better idea of how bad the injury is.

The truth is, at the moment nobody knows whether Beckham will be fit to play at the World Cup.

Beckham could be a slow healer, he could be a quick healer. It could be a clean break, it could be a complicated break.

He will probably be put into plaster for a couple of weeks and then have another X-ray - at this point everyone will get a much better idea of how serious the injury is.

In plaster the broken foot will be completely immobilised - it stops the injury getting any worse and allows the break to heal.

Gamble

I certainly expect the England management team to give David as long as possible to recover from the injury.

England have gambled in the past with key players recovering from injury.

A far from fully-fit Kevin Keegan travelled to Spain for the World Cup in 1982 and four years later Bobby Robson took a similar risk with his captain, Bryan Robson.

If Sven-Goran Eriksson thought that Beckham would be fit for any of the World Cup I would expect him to gamble as well - and he would be absolutely right to do so.

Beckham has been fantastic for England and deserves to be given as long as possible to recover from his injury.