England undermined by Premiership passion

We may not know much about them but they all know about us. In every single one of the 31 other nations in the World Cup you can watch Premiership matches, and without needing a satellite dish the size of Jodrell Bank to do so.

The reason is the football. It is raw, fast and occasionally furious. At its best it is compelling viewing. Arsène Wenger has admitted he is so used to the pace of the Premiership he falls asleep watching Italian football and he is not alone.

One hundred and fifty-two countries are now hooked up to the Premiership but if English football has conquered the global television market because of the way it is played it is also in danger of hobbling itself on the international pitch. As another English metatarsal is wrapped in plaster the question has to be asked: Has the Premiership crippled England's World Cup?

"There are far too many games in England. More than any other country. There is no break at all. I'm not just saying that now. I have always said that since I first came to England." So said Sven Goran Eriksson, the England manager, yesterday. A bone scan had just confirmed that Danny Murphy was the latest player to be ruled out of a World Cup not yet begun.

Trevor Sinclair, who only returned home on Wednesday after finding the strain of being with the squad on stand-by too great, was summoned. Last night, 50 hours after flying into Heathrow, he was back on the runway heading for Japan. There he will re-join the squad which leaves South Korea this afternoon. David Dunn, of Blackburn, and Alan Smith, of Leeds, have been put on stand-by. The likes of Steve McManaman and Frank Lampard were not considered.

Tomorrow Sinclair is expected to play 45 minutes against Cameroon in England's final warm-up at Kobe. It is not ideal, given the amount of time he has spent in the air, but Eriksson has little choice. He does not have enough fit midfielders to rest Sinclair.

As it is Emile Heskey is likely to be pressed into midfield alongside Paul Scholes, Owen Hargreaves and Joe Cole. The other midfielders, David Beckham, Nicky Butt and Kieron Dyer, are injured as is Ashley Cole – though he is recovering and may play some part tomorrow. Butt is expected to train today but Beckham's left foot is still to kick a ball seriously. Yesterday Eriksson said if he is not in full training by Friday he cannot be considered for Sunday's game. The odds lengthen.

At least Beckham is here. Gary Neville, Steven Gerrard and, now, Murphy, have already been ruled out. So has Robert Pires, while Thierry Henry is struggling with injury. The Irish have lost Mark Kennedy and Stephen Carr while Roy Keane's knee was giving him problems long before his head gave way. For South Africa Mark Fish and Lucas Radebe have only just come back from injury but Shaun Bartlett is out. Among those carrying injuries into competition are Juan Sebastian Veron and Fredrik Ljungberg.

Not all these players were injured in Premiership action, and some suffered breaks which could happen in any situation, but many, including Beckham, Neville, Gerrard, Henry, Veron and Ljungberg, have problems which are the consequence of too many matches and a lack of recovery time between them.

Thus Eriksson is torn, tomorrow, between protecting players, resting them, and gaining some meaningful practice. His solution is to start with his best side then keep to a minimum the players involved for 90 minutes. "At this stage of the season you will only tire them out," he said.

Besides, his complaint about the number of matches is only half the problem. The other is the relentless intensity of the games and the recklessness of some of the tackling. Premiership players regularly get away with tackles which would be penalised in the Champions' League. Remember Clive Tyldesley initially complimenting Aldo Pedro Duscher for his tackle on Beckham. Not Tyldesly's fault, by Premiership standards it was commonplace. Indeed, Phil Neville committed a very similar tackle late on which led to a Deportivo player being injured.

It is this combination of rough-and-tumble high-speed games and the relentless schedule which makes the English game so tough on its combatants.

The solution is fewer matches. But that is unlikely to happen. The Football Association blew their chance to insist upon it when the Premiership was formed and only four clubs [Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea] support it. It is no coincidence that, like most of the injured players, they are regularly involved in Europe [Chelsea and Liverpool are only recent converts]. The other chairmen, whose clubs might play just 40 games, point out their players are not suggesting a wage cut to match.

As a side issue, though a relevant one in the context of a World Cup, the nature of the English game, with its freewheeling approach to possession, also hampers Eriksson. It enables technically inadequate players to prosper and is the fundamental reason for his decision to play a long-ball game unlikely to be suited to Asian conditions.

Murphy had been allocated the No 4 shirt. Inherited from Steven Gerrard it now passes to Sinclair. Four is known in Korea as an unlucky number because its linguistic symbol is the same as that for "death". In the main press hotel there is no fourth floor. So Eriksson was asked: "Are you cursed? Are you jinxed?"

"I don't believe in jinxes," he replied. The blame can be laid instead at the unforgiving calendar of the English game. It can be thrilling to watch, but doubtless so could the gladiatorial contests of ancient Rome and they suffered an injury or two.