Madrid pair train with England

David Beckham and Michael Owen were back in training with England today ahead of their World Cup double-header with Austria and Poland.

Beckham and Owen flew into England late last night to join up with the squad after playing the opening 45 minutes of Real Madrid’s friendly match with Pumas de Mexico.

Alan Smith, Gary Neville and Owen Hargreaves also participated for the first time.

Smith and Neville had not trained on Tuesday after playing the previous day for Manchester United against Everton while Bayern Munich midfielder Hargreaves flew in yesterday from Germany and only took part in a training warm-down.

The only new casualty was Manchester City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips, who suffered an ankle injury towards the end of yesterday’s session but he is expected to be available tomorrow.

Meanwhile it is unlikely that former Newcastle manager Bobby Robson will be involved in some capacity with the Football Association in the foreseeable future.

There have been reports linking Robson with a move in some capacity to Soho Square after he was sacked by Newcastle on Monday.