Brazilian dreams balanced


By Matthew Jones
June 20 2002

England are likely to be at full strength against Brazil, with Paul Scholes back from his ankle injury and Kieron Dyer again set for the bench. England are likely to be at full strength against Brazil, with Paul Scholes back from his ankle injury and Kieron Dyer again set for the bench.

Coach Sven Goran Eriksson has been boosted by the news that Michael Owen and Scholes have joined the Magpies midfielder in training and completed a full session today.

Liverpool star Owen has been struggling with a groin strain all week, while Manchester United playmaker Scholes has been troubled by an ankle injury.

But both players, who are key to Eriksson's plans and have started all four games in the World Cup so far, trained with the rest of the squad in Japan and are expected to take their place in the starting line-up for the quarter-final showdown.
That means Dyer, who has already revealed he dreams of playing against the samba stars, can only hope to do so from the bench barring late problems for Scholes.

The ice-cool Swede is likely to name an unchanged team to the 11 that faced Denmark as the Three Lions looks to extend their Far East adventure.

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