The sight of Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney taking part in the first 20 minutes of England's first training session at the Mittelberg training camp near their base in Baden Baden on Tuesday, will have given the England squad and coach Sven-Goran Eriksson a considerable boost ahead of the World Cup Finals.

Rooney, who broke a metatarsal in his foot playing against Chelsea on April 29, has been a major doubt ever since, and still faces a scan on the injured foot when he returns to England on Wednesday.

Afterwards the 20-year-old Manchester United forward spent time with the England fitness coach Ivan Carminati, doing a mixture of running, sprinting and ball work on his own.

"I think he looks very good," Eriksson told a news conference later. "It's totally up to the surgeons, the specialists, the doctors and physios. I can't judge it," he said, maintaining a note of caution. "But I've always said I think he will be available, that he will take part in the World Cup. And I still believe it very, very strongly."

Eriksson, has until 24 hours before their Group B opener against Paraguay on Saturday to name his final squad. At the latest he expects the scan result by Thursday morning, when he will decide whether to keep Rooney or replace him with his standby striker, Tottenham Hotspur’s Jermain Defoe.

Despite the confident noises coming from the England camp, Manchester United teammate Gary Neville, who had a similar metatarsal injury, which ruled him out of the 2002 World Cup Finals, warned against over-optimism.

"It's encouraging in one sense. But I had an experience in 2002 while I was in Manchester recuperating from my broken foot ... it's not always how it appears. I was jogging prior to my scan and went to see the specialist thinking I would be given the go ahead to start training and was told I'd have to have an operation four days later.

"I hope that doesn't happen for Wayne - everyone wants him to take part in the World Cup. But until the surgeons have met tomorrow I don't think anybody will know for sure. The lad's had a broken foot, just leave him be. Let him rehabilitate, he'll be looked after by the right people."

Arsenal’s Ashley Cole sat out the training session as he recovers from the hamstring problem that saw him substituted early on in the 6-0 friendly win over Jamaica on Saturday.

Captain David Beckham, Chelsea’s John Terry and Neville all took part in training having missed Monday's final session in England, although Beckham did not participate in the training match. Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard missed the last five minutes of the session with a stiff back, but Eriksson said it shouldn’t be a problem for Saturday.

"There's no doubt it," Eriksson said. "You can't compare it with Japan or Portugal. They are fit and they are much more confident than in the last tournaments."

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