Eriksson ready to turn to youth

Eriksson insists there will be no more injuries

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England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson will turn to the Under-21 squad if there are any further injury problems with his World Cup squad.

West Ham winger Trevor Sinclair has flown home but remains on standby.

There are concerns over Newcastle United's Kieron Dyer, who has a knee injury, as well as captain David Beckham and his Manchester United team-mate Nicky Butt.

Eriksson remains confident all three will have some part to play in the tournament.

However, the England coach is to speak to his Under-21 counterpart David Platt, who is leading his squad in the European Championships in Switzerland.

Nicky Butt is very close to joining in with the rest of the group in training

Sven-Goran Eriksson

England play a semi-final against Portugal on Wednesday.

"If we have more problems than one, it will be players from the Under-21s," said Eriksson today. "But we will not have more than one problem.

"That we agreed a long time ago. I had a long meeting with David Platt. Even if we have problem tomorrow - say a defender or attacker - we can take him tomorrow.

"All Under-21 players are on standby."

Sinclair asked to go home after his poor performance in the game against South Korea on Tuesday but Eriksson said that was not why he had been left out of the squad.

"If that was the reason, many of them would be going on stand-by," said Eriksson, in recognition of an unconvincing performance.

Dyer, Beckham and Butt are still fighting injuries

Eriksson admitted that Dyer may well not be fit in time for the first game against Sweden on 2 June.

"Maybe the first game - if not we think he will be Ok for the second game. But that's a decision we have to take one or two days before the Sweden game.

"With an injury like that, some recover quicker than others - hopefully Dyer is quicker."

"At this moment, we have three players who we're not sure are going to make the World Cup or not," Eriksson admitted.

But he added: "Nicky Butt is very close to joining in with the rest of the group.

"He worked very hard this morning and we'll see if this afternoon or at the next training whether he will work with the group.

"From there on, of course, you have to see.

"For Beckham, it's a bone and hopefully next week he can train with the group. We think so.

"And then there's Dyer of course."