SOCCER/Rooney Injury: The England captain David Beckham will not be the only one wearing an armband this summer.

If the immediate reaction is any guide, the whole side might as well sport signs of grieving round their sleeves, so great has been the mourning of the hopes for Germany this summer that supposedly expired when Wayne Rooney broke the fourth metatarsal of his right foot at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

The England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson believes, though, that the 20-year-old can be ready in time.

"Wayne is a world-class player and we will give him every chance to play in the World Cup," he said. "With such a huge talent we have to do that. We will continue to speak to the medical staff at Manchester United, who have been extremely helpful.

"We will know more over the next few days.

"While the possibility of losing a top-quality player like Wayne for the tournament would obviously be a concern, I strongly believe that we have many world-class players. I have always said that we are one of four or five teams who can win the World Cup and this would not change that."

Steven Gerrard, however, was in no mood to play down the significance of Rooney.

"He is one of the world's best players," said the Liverpool midfielder. "It would be a disaster for England if we had to go to the World Cup without Wayne. He's our key man and I think it's impossible to have a successful World Cup without Wayne Rooney."

Eriksson will make special efforts to keep the forward in his plans. If a player with a pre-existing injury is named in the squad, which must be confirmed by May 15th, he cannot be replaced if he proves incapable of taking part in the tournament.

The manager will seek clarification of the rules this week and is likely to ask Fifa to alter that regulation.

Even if he persuades the administrators, Rooney would probably still not be able to play. While a recovery period of six weeks is theoretically possible there is hard evidence in Rooney's case to suggest he will be out for longer. He last fractured a metatarsal against Portugal on June 24th, 2004, and was not in condition to make his debut for Manchester United until September 28th of that year.

Three months were required then and the club would be vehemently opposed to any effort by his country to rush him back. No matter what expressions of hope are made, England have to work on the assumption Rooney will be missing. The fatalistic view that England's participation in the World Cup must be futile without him is at odds with the claim the country has its best squad since 1966.

The question is what Eriksson should do with his team. If minimum disruption is the priority he can stick with his habitual 4-4-2. The manager had a "very encouraging" medical report yesterday about Michael Owen, who had said there was a "dull ache" when he made a comeback from his own metatarsal injury at the weekend. England's vice-captain should be ready for the World Cup and could partner Peter Crouch.

The pairing worked well in the closing stretch of the friendly with Argentina in November when Owen scored twice to win the match. Eriksson, though, has primarily regarded Crouch as a substitute to be brought on late in games. If overused, the combination of tall target-man and nippy striker could quickly become predictable.

A more adventurous stance would see Eriksson take a leaf out of the Arsenal playbook and set England up in a 4-1-4-1 formation. That would allow him to have the holding midfielder he hankers after in, perhaps, Michael Carrick while allowing Frank Lampard and Gerrard to push up in support of Owen.

The system might be realistic, too, because England suffered from a shortage of forwards even before Rooney got hurt. Gerrard unintentionally highlighted that when he rallied and began to speak about the "opportunity" that now exists for Jermain Defoe and Darren Bent.

The former has been out of form and favour with Tottenham while the latter is unproven and had a chastening debut for England against Uruguay.

It would be prudent for Eriksson to concentrate on tactics that utilise a single attacker in a central position. That approach will not come readily to a man so wedded to the 4-4-2 blueprint but he ought at least to reflect on how successful Chelsea have been with their 4-3-3 strategy in which two hard-working wingers operate from midfield to forward line.

Stamford Bridge's very own Joe Cole could be one of them, and the manager might consider calling up the uncapped Aaron Lennon of Tottenham or Middlesbrough's Stewart Downing, who has made one England appearance.

No matter what policy is adopted, though, the major challenge for Eriksson will be to convince the players they can triumph without Rooney.