Rooney continues World Cup recovery

Wayne Rooney touched down in Germany with his England team-mates after another day of encouraging progress in his race to be fit for the World Cup.

Rooney trained with Gary Neville and the England physios before flying from Luton Airport to the team’s luxury hotel near Baden-Baden.

The Manchester United striker, filmed passing a ball with his broken foot at the end of last week, is thought to have stepped up his recovery programme again today.

Rooney worked more vigorously, striking the ball harder, and plans to go through his paces again with the England medical team tomorrow before flying back to Manchester for a scan on Wednesday.

Sven-Goran Eriksson insists he is confident Rooney will be fit for at least some stage of the World Cup finals.

The England boss will have a much clearer picture after Wednesday’s scan on the metatarsal bone Rooney broke against Chelsea on April 29.

At the time, Rooney was told by United’s medical experts that it would be six weeks before he could resume full training.

It will be six weeks on Saturday, the day England play Paraguay in their first game in Group B.

Eriksson expects experienced full-back Neville to have recovered from his hamstring injury in time to face the Paraguayans.

Neville had been expected to train today, after missing Saturday’s 6-0 win over Jamaica as a precaution.

The England camp now say he will train properly tomorrow as the team get used to their new training headquarters in Buhlertal.

John Terry, Ashley Cole and skipper David Beckham all missed today’s final session in England because they were nursing slight knocks and niggles.

Terry has a sore knee, Cole has a slight thigh injury and Beckham took a kick on the right ankle against Jamaica.

The Football Association’s director of communications Adrian Bevington said the trio should be ready for the weekend.

Bevington said: “This was purely precautionary with all three players.

“Sven fully expects all three to be training this week and available for Saturday’s opener against Paraguay.”