Beckham fit to face Sweden

The England coach, Sven Goran Eriksson, last night said he trusted his countrymen not to target David Beckham's newly healed left foot when England open their World Cup programme against Sweden on Sunday.

The England captain looks set to play in Saitama despite being out of action for more than seven weeks with a broken metatarsal bone. Although Beckham, who joined the squad for training for the first time yesterday, will be involved in full-contact sessions before Sunday the injury is unlikely to be fully tested before then. In the match he will face such uncompromising players as Johann Mjallby, of Celtic, but Eriksson said: "It is sport. I would never tell a player to target an opponent who had been injured and I think other managers would be the same."

Since Eriksson is an old friend of Sweden's co-coaches, Lars Lagerback and Tommy Soderberg, his faith may be vindicated. Of greater concern to many English supporters will be the following match against Argentina. Their team is likely to feature Diego Simeone who provoked Beckham into being dismissed in the last World Cup, but Eriksson added: "I would not expect any team to target Beckham."

Eriksson was more upbeat than for weeks yesterday as he described his sense of relief at Beckham's recovery. "When I saw him practise today I was very happy," he said. "David was running and smiling. When we got back to the hotel the other players asked how it went. They were also happy."

The news that Beckham was on course to play his first match in more than seven weeks gave the squad a visible lift when they trained in the afternoon. With the benign figure of a 200ft white Buddha looking on Beckham, typically, led the warm-up laps around the training pitch. He then took a full part in some keep-ball exercises and a three-cornered mini-match. While he rarely used his left foot, he otherwise seemed comfortable.

"He has not been shooting, or taking hard kicks with his left foot, but he has been passing with it," Eriksson said. "He has done everything with his right foot and there has not been a reaction. If things continue to go well he will start. I do not think it will be a risk."

Kieron Dyer was also involved in the training session making it the first time since naming his squad that Eriksson has been able to work with all 23 players. However, Dyer remains unlikely to be available on Sunday and Eriksson admitted a decision on whether to replace him, probably with David Dunn, will have to be made by Friday.

"We might be able to gamble on him if David Beckham is fit but we would need a virtual guarantee that he would be available for Argentina," said Eriksson.

Dyer spent seven hours in rehabilitation and training yesterday. It was, said Eriksson, a typical workload for the injured players. "Every time I go into the physio's room, whether it is seven in the morning or 12.30 in the evening, there is someone there receiving massage," said Eriksson. "All the injured players ­ and the medical staff ­ have worked very hard."

Yesterday it was the coaching staff's turn as England worked on counter-attacking drills in an attempt to subvert Sweden's defensive discipline. "Their strength is their organisation," said Eriksson of Sweden. "They have been together as a side for a long time."

Since Eriksson has not managed in Sweden for 20 years he has enlisted the help of Stuart Baxter, the Scot who recently left AIK Solna after a successful spell in charge. Baxter said: "The idea of using pace against Sweden is valid for two reasons, they are good defenders, so if you allow them to regroup you are in trouble. Brazil had trouble breaking them down. Argentina will. If you get eight Swedes behind the ball, it's difficult. At their get-togethers, 90 per cent is on defensive organisation. They are amongst the best organised in the world. Pace is one way of getting around that.

"The second reason is that we did so well against the Germans, hitting them on breaks. I am not suggesting we play counter-attacking football against Sweden, but when we win the ball it has to go quickly. Sven took a bit of stick after the draw against Sweden at Old Trafford. One of his comments was 'we didn't play the ball forward quickly enough' and people jumped on that saying 'are we going to start smashing the ball forward again?' Pace will allow us to hit Sweden while they are re-grouping.

"Look at Arsenal, who have just won the Double. They are fantastic at the transition. They get at people so quickly. England must be the same."

However Baxter, who coached in Japan for two years with Vissel Kobe, added: "The heat could be a problem. You can't just smash the ball over the top and let Heskey or Owen run on to it. It's all about timing of movement. We can't run our forwards into the ground just knocking balls forward.

"We will have to be clinical in the Japanese climate. David Beckham ran 16 kilometres against Greece. No one will be running 16km in Japan."