Neville set for return to training
England assistant manager Steve McClaren is hopeful right-back Gary Neville will be in contention for Saturday’s quarter-final against Portugal.
Neville, 31, has been struggling with a calf injury and missed yesterday’s 1-0 last-16 win over Ecuador in Stuttgart.
The Manchester United captain, who has missed the last three games, has managed some light training and McClaren said: “He’s recovering well, he should train tomorrow and definitely Wednesday.
“He needs a few days training and hopefully he’ll be in contention for Saturday.”
McClaren insists England’s World Cup campaign is going exactly to plan despite criticism of the team’s performances so far.
England set up a meeting with Portugal with victory yesterday but have failed to impress in their four matches so far.
But Sven-Goran Eriksson’s assistant, who will succeed the Swede after the tournament, is satisfied with England’s progress. He told Sky Sports News: “We’re exactly where we wanted to be at this stage.
“This is what we planned for. We’ve got tough opponents in Portugal but we’re in a good position.
“Preparation and attention to detail is one of the key things in a World Cup. With seven games in 28 days detail, preparation, rest and recovery are all key because you are always planning for the unexpected like the injuries and suspensions – and we’ve had quite a few of those to cope with.”
McClaren admitted much of that preparation time between the final group game against Sweden and yesterday’s second-round win was spent working on the defensive frailties evident against the Scandinavians and adapting to the 4-5-1 formation deployed in Stuttgart yesterday.
“After the Sweden game we had four days to prepare for Ecuador. Two of those were recovery days to get the players back to the level they were at previous to that game, then two days were spent working on the team in preparation for Ecuador. We knew the team on Wednesday evening when Sven gave us that. We never tried any other formation.
“We won the game and that’s the most important thing. Winning football matches gets you further in the tournament,” he said.
