England curse strikes Murphy
Danny Murphy has become the third member of the England squad to break a bone in his foot. With nearly exactly the same injury that ruled Gary Neville out of the World Cup, Murphy will not play in the tournament.
David Beckham has had time to recover from his fracture, but is still not fully match fit, leaving only Scholes, Hargreaves and Cole available in midfield.
Murphy was drafted into the squad as a replacement for Steven Gerrard, and will now have to be substituted himself.
Trevor Sinclair is the named standby, but plays a different game to Murphy. One possible alternative is David Dunn, Under-21 captain from Blackburn Rovers. 24th May 2002 |