The central defender limped out of Tottenham's 1-0 win over Everton on Saturday, but the injury was only fully diagnosed on Monday.

A statement on the Spurs website said: "Ledley King has suffered a stress fracture to the fourth metatarsal of his left foot. Early indications are that his recovery will take three to four weeks."

King, who has played 16 times for the Three Lions and scored one goal, will need to recover quickly to be named in Sven's squad when he announces it on 8 May.

The centre-back could still be selected, but he would then have just under a month to prove his fitness before the opening game against Paraguay on 10 June.

There was more positive news for England, however, as Michael Owen kicked a ball for the first time this year over the Easter weekend.

Owen, who has also been out with a broken foot, did some light training, with Newcastle caretaker manager Glenn Roeder commenting: "It's onwards and upwards for Michael. I'm confident he'll play for Newcastle before the end of the season."

Elsewhere on the injury front Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger confirmed that Ashley Cole, another broken foot victim, is expected to play a comeback reserve game against Coventry on Wednesday and central defender Sol Campbell could return from breaking his nose at Portsmouth last Wednesday before the week is out.

On the pitch, England midfielder Frank Lampard scored for Chelsea against Bolton as the Blues took another step towards retaining the Premiership trophy.

England's opponents

England now have a clearer idea of who they will be facing in the opening stages of this summer’s finals after Trinidad and Tobago coach Leo Beenhakker named a provisional 24-man squad for his Group B side.

The squad, which will be cut by one man when the final names are submitted on 15 May, includes West Ham’s Shaka Hislop and fellow keeper Clayton Ince of Coventry City. In defence there are also places for Gillinghan duo Brent Sancho and Ian Cox and Wrexham’s Dennis Lawrence.

Port Vale’s Chris Birchall is one of the midfielders and English interest also features in their attack where there are places for Luton’s Carlos Edwards, former Manchester United striker Dwight Yorke, Stern John of Coventry and Southampton forward Kenwyne Jones.

Beenhakker has also named Anthony Warner (Fulham), Ricky Shakes (Swindon Town), and Hector Sam (Port Vale) on his list of standby players.

Birchall, who played in mid-table League One side Vale’s 1-1 draw at Walsall over the weekend and said: "Getting to the World Cup was a dream come true for Trinidad & Tobago and now I've got to make sure I cement my place in the squad for the finals."

The England coaching staff will get a chance to scout Trinidad in action when they play Peru on 19 May before they move on to training camps in England, Austria and the Czech Republic before the finals start in Germany.

Two players already in Germany are the Bayern Munich midfielders Owen Hargreaves, who last played for England in September last year and has been getting back to top form, and German Michael Ballack, who is close to joining Chelsea before the start of next season.

Ballack was on target on Easter Saturday as Bayern Munich beat Bielefield 2-0.

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