Beckham out as injuries mount for McClaren

STEVE McCLAREN is facing the very real possibility of heading into the biggest week of his short reign as England coach without Steven Gerrard and David Beckham.

McClaren already knew he would be without Wayne Rooney for the Euro 2008 Wembley double-header with Israel and Russia next month but further depressing news has landed on his door from either side of the Atlantic which threatens to rip the heart out of his midfield as well.

Already bedevilled by a lack of match practice among many of his senior players and a severe loss of form in others, McClaren awoke to discover Beckham had sustainedsuspected knee ligament damage in LA Galaxy’s SuperLiga trophy final defeat to Pachuca which could rule him out for six weeks.

McClaren was still reeling from that blow when word filtered down from Merseyside that Gerrard is also a major doubt after being ruled out of Liverpool’s Premier League encounter with Derby on Saturday as the broken toe which forced him to miss last week’s friendly defeat to Germany has still not healed properly.

Gerrard’s name will almost certainly be in the squad McClaren unveils today for a key five-day period from which four points are a minimumrequirement if England are to retain a realistic hope of reaching nextsummer’s Finals in Austria and Switzerland.

However, after all the debate over the wisdom of Beckham clocking up the air miles, it now appears the former skipper will not have to, with a scan due to confirm the extent of his injury today.

Given the abysmal fortunes he has endured lately, McClaren would do well to check outside his North Yorkshire home to see if he can find a black cat or two.

Certainly, it is difficult to imagine how McClaren could have encountered any more bad luck given Kieron Dyer is also out after sustaining a potentially season-ending double leg fracture at Bristol Rovers on Tuesday and Gary Neville is a virtually certain absentee as well.

True, Owen Hargreaves has now launched his Manchester United career but not without experiencing an element of pain in his troublesome knee, which makes Alex Ferguson dubious about exposing him twice in a week at present.

Michael Owen may have scored his first Newcastle goal since December 2005 last night but the man upon whom McClaren’s scoring hopesare pinned against Israel, whenPeter Crouch is suspended, mustbe still some way short of matchsharpness after so long on the sidelines.

Birmingham’s Cameron Jeromeand Sunderland’s Michael Chopraare the only English qualified playersto have scored twice and anyonewho suggested either man was capable of donning the England numbernine shirt at present would be scoffed at.

Certainly neither will be among the names McClaren will announce today as he looks to edge Israel and Russia out of what appears to be a battle for runners-up spot in Group E behind Croatia.

Blackburn’s David Bentley is now more of a probable than a possible given what has happened to Beckham and Dyer, ensuring his EnglandUnder-21 walkout has not provedtoo costly. Sol Campbell should beincluded as well after missing out against Germany due to an ill-timed groin strain.