England lifted as Rooney hits comeback trail

Wayne Rooney (R) of Manchester United beats Paolo Ferreira of Chelsea during a Premiership match at Stamford Bridge in London, April 2006. England's hopes of having Rooney fit for the World Cup have received a boost when the forward underwent his most vigorous training session since he broke a bone in his foot at the end of April.

England's hopes of having Wayne Rooney fit for the World Cup have received a boost when the forward underwent his most vigorous training session since he broke a bone in his foot at the end of April.

Rooney, 20, could be seen running, turning and doing some ball work at Manchester United's Carrington training complex on the outskirts of Manchester on Friday, five days before he undergoes a scan on his injured right foot which will determine whether he plays in Germany.

England's most important player has been out of action since April 29, when he suffered a broken metatarsal bone in his right foot in United's 3-0 defeat at Chelsea.

Although he will fly to Germany with his international team-mates on Monday, Rooney is due back in Manchester two days later for a scan to assess whether the bone has healed sufficiently to give him a realistic chance of playing in the later stages of the tournament. If the results are negative, Rooney will be replaced in the squad, most probably by Jermain Defoe.

England coach Steve McClaren, who will take over as head coach from Sven-Goran Eriksson after the World Cup, said he was delighted to see Rooney apparently progressing so well.

"He has been working with the United physios all this week," McClaren told Sky Sports News.

"He's stepping things up, joining us on Monday and having the relevant scans, so things are progressing well. Of course, you never take things for granted in football and with the metatarsal especially.

"Hopefully the scans will be okay but you've seen the progress he's making. He's a confident lad and he wants to be there and he'll be doing everything possible to be there."

Rooney's United team-mate Gary Neville missed England's training session on Friday after failing to recover sufficiently from a hamstring problem he incurred in Tuesday's 3-1 win over Hungary.

Neville, 31, now looks highly unlikely to be involved in Saturday's final warm-up match against Jamaica at Old Trafford.

England's management team are confident Neville will be ready for the World Cup opener against Paraguay next Saturday (June 10), but his likely absence from the Jamaica match will disrupt Sven-Goran Eriksson's planning in other areas.

If Neville is not fit, Jamie Carragher will have to deputise, meaning the Liverpool defender will not have another opportunity to get used to the midfield holding role he occupied in the first half against Hungary.

Eriksson has the option of bringing Owen Hargreaves or Michael Carrick into that role or reverting to a more traditional 4-4-2 with Peter Crouch partnering Michael Owen in attack.