But for David Beckham's free-kick against Greece in heart-stoppage time, England's World Cup aspirations would now be in need of a get-well card. As it is they will take a sick-note into Saturday's friendly against Sweden at Old Trafford.
Which is another way of saying that Darren Anderton is in the squad for the first time under Sven-Goran Eriksson, the Tottenham midfielder having at lost shown signs of being able to shake off the strains and ruptures which have dogged him over the past five years.
Sick-note became Anderton's soubriquet as one setback followed another and he had surgery on a damaged Achilles in March, but since then he has at last begun to pick up the threads of a career which once promised great things.
He still has time to re-establish himself as an England player and amid the many changes Eriksson rings on Saturday he should make his first international appearance since November last year, when he came off the bench in Turin when Peter Taylor's caretaker XI lost 1-0 to Italy. The 29-year-old gets his chance because Nick Barmby is unfit and Steve McManaman is needed by Real Madrid.
Frank Lampard, dropped for the Greece game after being one of four players fined by Chelsea following a drinking binge, is back, along with Kevin Phillips, whose goals for Sunderland may have dried up but whose recent performances have nevertheless impressed the English coach.
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