Butt injury latest blow for England
Two days after Sven-Goran Eriksson watched in disbelief as his side suffered an agonising last-gasp defeat by France, England’s head coach learned he would have do without one of the midfielders he has relied on most in his three-and-a-half years in charge.
Butt was told by doctors he will be unable to play for up to a month after a scan confirmed he had suffered ligament damage to his right knee during training at England’s base camp on the outskirts of Lisbon.
“Nicky Butt has medial collateral ligament damage which he picked up in training yesterday,” an England spokesman said. “It is usually a three- to-four week injury and he is not expected to take any part in the tournament,” he said.
England will explore the possibility of having Butt replaced in their 23-man squad but that seems unlikely as UEFA rules only allow for new players to be brought into squads in “exceptional circumstances” once the tournament has got underway.
“We are trying to clarify what exceptional circumstances are,” the spokesman added.
Although Butt had lost his place in England’s starting line-up after a season on the sidelines at his club, his loss is still a big blow. Eriksson has said there is a 50-50 chance that Paul Scholes, who has an ankle injury, will not be fit to face Switzerland in Coimbra and bringing Butt back into his team was one of his options.
“It is disappointing, particularly given the way Scholes is looking,” said England captain David Beckham, a former team-mate of Butt’s at United. “I’ve said before that Nicky Butt is the kind of player you have to have in your squad.”
Meanwhile, goalkeeper David James insists there is no danger of England underestimating the Swiss.
Though England will be runaway favourites in the Group B game in Coimbra, another defeat after Sunday’s 2-1 loss to holders France would seal a calamitous exit.
“If we take any team lightly in this tournament we will be out,” James said yesterday.
“Portugal were supposed to win against Greece quite comfortably and ended up losing (2-1) so nothing can be taken lightly. We take heart from the fact that the performance against France for the main part was very very good,” he said.
“A reproduction of that in the next two games and I’m sure, unless we get some serious bad luck, we’ll get the two wins we’re after.”
However, James made it clear England would gladly sacrifice the quality of their football to get three points before next week’s final game against Croatia, who drew 0-0 with the Swiss.
“As good as the performance was against France, it got us no points. If the performance on Thursday is rubbish and we win we’ll be happy.”
As for himself, James said: “I want to be keeper of the tournament. Thomas Sorensen of Denmark had a very good game the other day so it’s going to be a bit harder than I anticipated.
“I want to play my best and this is the perfect platform,” he said.
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