Southgate, who captained England in the second-half of the match against Sweden, injured his medial ligaments in training this week and now faces a race against time to be fit in time for EURO2004, for which Sven will announce his squad on 17 May.

"I heard about the injury and of course it's bad news for the player and for us," Sven told us.

"I am going to call Gareth to speak to him and wish him well. I have said before that, as we do not have Rio Ferdinand, players like Sol Campbell, Southgate, Woodgate and Terry are very important players for us.

"Anyhow, I will speak to him and be keeping a check on the progress he makes. He is a strong man in mentality and physically too so we hope he can recover quickly."