Dyer: World Cup is 'a million miles away'
Kieron Dyer insists he must build up his fitness with Newcastle before the World Cup can enter his thoughts.
The Newcastle midfielder has started just two Barclays Premiership matches this season and is running out of time to get fit for the finals in Germany.
He has won 28 caps – 20 of those under Sven-Goran Eriksson – but the 27-year-old has not played for England since March 30 last year.
Plagued by injuries this season, Dyer has an chance of being on the bench for Sunday’s home match against Liverpool, but he said: “I think the World Cup is a million miles away.
“I haven’t played 90 minutes since last March and I haven’t even played 90 minutes for Newcastle this season so I owe it to myself and all the people of Newcastle to get fit for them and try to push for some silverware.”
Newcastle remain in this season’s FA Cup, but next week’s quarter-final against Chelsea promises to test their resolve to win a trophy in captain Alan Shearer’s final year at the club.
Dyer’s last comeback game promised much, but despite his winning goal against Southampton in the FA Cup the occasion turned sour for the former Ipswich man.
“I was fine after the Southampton game, but I just had a bit of a reaction because I played 10 minutes too long,” he said on www.skysports.com.
“It’s been really frustrating seeing all the top specialists in the world when they seem to pinpoint a problem, then I do all the rehab work and break down again, and find out it must be something else that was wrong.
“I think I flew out to Germany and the specialist said it was my back so I did all the work on my back, then I saw another specialist who said it was my hamstring and so on, so it has been very frustrating.
“But we seem to have finally, touch wood, solved the problem now.”
