Dyer: This is fantastic news

Kieron Dyer has won his fight to be part of Sven-Goran Eriksson's squad for the World Cup.

The Newcastle United player has convinced Eriksson he has recovered sufficiently from the knee injury which he suffered three weeks ago.

Dyer initially feared his hopes of being involved had disappeared, and was not involved in the England squad's pre-tournament break in Dubai.

But he made enough progress for Eriksson to keep the door open and invite him to join in training in South Korea and Japan.

Dyer has resumed full training and Eriksson has now told him he will stay with the other 22 players - and could feature against Sweden.

Dyer said: "It is fantastic news because after the tackle I was told that I was not going to be involved in the World Cup finals.

"It seemed as if my dreams of going to the World Cup were going to turn into a nightmare. I was in so much pain the day afterwards. I was so low.

"Then it became clear that I had a chance of making it - and when Sven phoned me to ask me to join up with the squad, it was a massive boost.

"The fact you could change the squad up until 24 hours before the game has helped me a lot."

Dyer believes his form this season means his place in Eriksson's squad is more than justified.

He said: "I missed out on Euro 2000 because I ran out of steam in the last 12 to 15 games of that season. I didn't play well in that time.

"This time around my consistency for Newcastle has been very good and I deserve to be in the squad. I've tried to stay positive and been determined to fight the injury all the way and it's paid off."