For all his progress over the past week and Bobby Robson's encouraging words, Kieron Dyer will not take part in England's first warm-up game on Tuesday night against South Korea and is almost certain to miss the second warm-up against Cameroon five days later, leaving a major question-mark over his ability to participate in England's first World Cup game against Sweden on June 2nd.

Dyer will link up with the England squad this morning in Dubai.

Robson, Dyer's manager at Newcastle United, said on Wednesday that the midfielder was 10 days away from playing rather than training. Yet that was still a rather optimistic prognosis based on the recovery Dyer has made so far since the vicious tackle from Southampton's Tahar El Khalej last Saturday.

Dyer, who sustained medial ligament damage in the challenge, has only been jogging in straight lines and is some time away from kicking a ball, or even twisting and turning. Time is what the 23-year-old requires more than anything, and the feeling now is that Dyer may not be fit enough for the Sweden match but should be much closer to the 100 per cent fitness Sven-Goran Eriksson demands by the Argentina match in Sapporo on June 7th.

If that pessimism counter-balances Robson's natural exuberance, the England medical staff will at least be buoyed by the sight of Dyer on two feet - the last time they saw him, last Sunday morning, he was on crutches. But they were purely precautionary on Newcastle's part and were cast aside by Dyer on Monday. The club has felt it has a duty to maximise Dyer's chances of participating in the World Cup and can feel satisfied that they have achieved this.

Eriksson is now responsible and has the difficult decision of whether to persevere with Dyer, with the Argentina date in mind, or to select Trevor Sinclair even though the closest the West Ham player is likely to get to serious action is in training.

David Beckham used a mini-trampoline in Dubai yesterday to continue his rehabilitation from the broken left foot he suffered last month. The Manchester United midfielder stood on a two-foot wide "Trampette" and was thrown balls to kick by the England physio Alan Smith.

"David stood on the Trampette with both feet but balanced on his left foot and used his right to do ball work, kicking the ball back to Alan when he threw it at him and balancing on the left," said Paul Newman, the Football Association's director of communications.

"The important thing with the exercise is to keep his injured foot off the ground. It meant David was able to do a lot of jumping along with the running he's been doing. He trained for more than half an hour and then went back to the hotel for a massage."

Beckham and his club-mate Nicky Butt, who is recovering from a knee injury, were said by Newman to be "progressing well" and to have suffered "no setbacks". Indeed, Butt joined in with training yesterday, but Sol Campbell was back in the gym due to a gash on his shin.