Return Flight For Sincs

  • England are 5/2 to win Group F -
    Click for full World Cup odds with Surrey Sports.

Trevor Sinclair's on-off World Cup saga finally appears to have finally ended in good fortune, with the Hammers star set to fly back out to Japan following Danny Murphy's withdrawl from the England squad through injury.

Sinclair returned to England yesterday after manager Sven-Goran Eriksson had announced on Tuesday that he would be risking the Kieron Dyer in his final 23-man squad for the finals.

However, just hours later, Murphy was revealed to have broken a bone in his foot during a freak training accident, paving the way for Trevor to make a return to the squad and keep his World Cup dream alive.

Said Eriksson: "Trevor is a good player and will do well. I left a message because it was too early and it is confirmed and he will take a plane tonight and will come to Japan.

"In one way, I regret Sinclair going home but he wanted to go home and being the 24th man, just waiting for your friends to drop out is not very nice and I am sure this was his feeling - hoping someone gets injured, more or less.

"He is very happy and that is okay. Trevor is probably still used to Korean time as he wasn't in England long and he will do a good World Cup, I am sure."

His return means that Sinclair is likely to be involved in England's final friendly match before the tournament starts, against Cameroon on Sunday.

Murphy's withdrawl could also work in the favour of Joe Cole, who impressed against South Korea on Tuesday and will now step up in the pecking order for the central midfield places.