After suffering a back injury during training, Steven Gerrard said that he might miss England's World Cup 2006 opening match against Paraguay on Saturday.

"I've just got to keep working on it but I've got a good chance," Gerrard said.

"As we speak now it's probably 50-50 but if it keeps improving the way it has done over the past 24 hours I'll be there. I've had no back problems for years. I don't now how it will respond between now and the game but it has improved a lot over the last 24 hours."

"And if it keeps going like that I'll be ready for Saturday," Liverpool's captain said.

It is a very unfortunate incident as Gerrard missed the 2002 World Cup due to an injury. This adds more pressure to England's coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, who is considering his options.

Owen Hargreaves, Michael Carrick and Jermaine Jenas are possible replacements for the England midfielder, although nothing has yet been confirmed by team officials.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

delicious | digg | google | yahoo | technorati