43 days to go…

Injury update

England have received an injury boost with news that star striker Michael Owen is set for a return to the Newcastle squad at the weekend and left-back Ashley Cole is on the road to recovery and has featured for Arsenal's Reserves.

Wayne Bridge looks also to have returned to full fitness after his ankle injury and is now a regular starter at Fulham.

Sol Campbell has played himself into contention for the trip to Germany after recovering from a broken nose to star in Arsenal's Champions League semi-final second leg against Villarreal this week.

There have, however, been some setbacks with Tottenham defender Ledley King sustaining a broken foot. It is hoped that he will return for the World Cup Finals, but the news is less positive for Kieron Dyer, who has been ruled out of the tournament with hamstring troubles.

Rivals update

The Three Lions will be hoping that should they meet old rivals Germany in the second phase of the World Cup finals, the match will not go to penalties again.

This is where the Three Lions stumbled in two major tournaments during the 1990s, and this year it could be Arsenal's Jens Lehmann between the sticks for Germany.

The 36-year-old goalkeeper has been in awesome form during his club's run to the Champions League final, having not conceded a goal in the competition since last season.

He displayed nerves of steel during the semi-final second leg against Villarreal, when he saved a last minute penalty from Argentina's Juan Roman Riquelme to put Arsenal through.

Lehmann said: "There is a good chance Germany will meet England after the group phase and then I will try to show you why the Germans are so good at penalties!"

The other star of this year's Champions League semi-finals performed in the other tie between Barcelona and Real Madrid.

It was the Catalans who came out on top, largely thanks to the brilliance of Brazillian Ronaldinho.

He is expected to be the star in Germany this summer with his team favourites to take the trophy back to Rio.

It was his sublime pass that turned the first leg of the Champions League clash on it's head, when out of nothing he picked out team-mate Ludovic Giuly in the box who slammed home.

This proved to be the difference between the sides, and Ronaldinho could prove to be the deciding factor in many of Brazil's games.