England's 24-man squad arrived at their Essex training base today ahead of Wednesday night's friendly encounter with Croatia at Portman Road.

After a busy weekend of Premiership and European action Sven had five injury concerns after his medical team assessed the fitness of Sol Campbell and Jonathan Woodgate, while no risks will be taken with Bayern Munich midfielder Owen Hargreaves, who picked up a groin strain on Saturday in his club's 2-0 Bundesliga win over VfL Bochum, and he will travel back to Germany tomorrow, missing the game in Ipswich.

At 4pm this afternoon, the players take to the training pitch at the Five Lakes Hotel, Golf and Country Club to begin their preparations for the first game of the new season - their final get-together ahead of the important Group 7 double-header against Macedonia on September 6th then, four days later, Liechtenstein at Old Trafford.

 

Nineteen players will take part in the session with only Arsenal's Campbell experiencing a shoulder problem, and Jonathan Woodgate, who has a minor injury after playing in Newcastle's 2-2 draw at Elland Road yesterday, missing from this afternoon's practice all-together. Emile Heskey, who picked up a knock on his calf in Liverpool's 2-1 defeat to Chelsea will go through a warm-down in the gym today with captain David Beckham, who played late last night and has a slight back injury.

"Owen Hargreaves, Sol Campbell and Jonathan Woodgate were all assessed by the England medical staff after arriving here in Essex earlier today," The FA's Head of Media Relations, Adrian Bevington, told us on Monday afternoon.

"Sol and Jonathan will sit out this afternoon's session and we'll take another look at their fitness tomorrow. However, Owen will fly back to Germany tomorrow and therefore misses the match."


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