‘‘I did some running for the first time two days ago,’’ said Beckham of the broken bone in his left foot.

‘‘It’s fine, a bit sore, but there are three weeks to go so it won’t be problem.

‘‘It’s up to me to get fit, lose a bit of weight I’ve put on about half a stone and do well out there.

‘‘The England staff have not seen (my foot) yet but the Manchester United staff are really pleased, it’s been five weeks and I’m running already. You have up and down days but it’s going well.

‘‘It’s aching but I’ve spoken to people who had the same problem and they said three months after it’s still aching so it’s going to be fine.

‘‘But it does not matter about me at the moment, they (Gerrard and Dyer) must be absolutely devastated.

‘‘It’s awful, devastating for them, but they’ll come back from it because they are two strong characters and we have to move on, we have the squad to do it.

‘‘They are two great players but there will be great players missing, like Pires from the French team.’’

Gerrard’s Liverpool team-mate Michael Owen added: ‘‘It’s not very nice but I think every team will have things like that. I was with him last night at our end-of-season meal. He is obviously disappointed. He is upset but I don’t think he is definitely ruled out yet.

‘‘Any team would miss him no matter who you are, every team is going to be in the same boat as us. You can’t expect to be any different. We would prefer him there but every team is going to have the same problem and it’s no use us sulking about it.’’

Leeds’ Rio Ferdinand denied the injuries to Dyer and Gerrard, and those to Nicky Butt, Beckham and Gary Neville, meant the England squad was in crisis.

Ferdinand said on Sky Sports News: ‘‘That’s a bit of an overstatement, we have plenty of players in the squad.

‘‘I don’t think Kieron has given up hope yet, hopefully he will be able to get fit.’’