Football World Cup: Total belief in my England; Injuries mounting but Sven has faith in squad.

Byline: MARK BRADLEY in Korea

SVEN-GORAN ERIKSSON has insisted England's growing injury jinx will not shake his belief in his side's World Cup chances - even though it would undermine any smaller nation.

Danny Murphy, who sustained exactly the same foot injury as David Beckham in a freak training ground accident, yesterday became the third player to pull out injured after Steven Gerrard and Gary Neville.

Trevor Sinclair was therefore flying back to the Far East just 48 hours after arriving back in England when he asked to go home following his omission from the final 23-man squad named on Tuesday night.

Now on standby are Blackburn's David Dunn and Leeds' Alan Smith from the under-21s just knocked out of the European Championships.

After all, the duo could still be called up before the June 1 cut-off point for injured players to be replaced, given that three other midfielders - David Beckham, Kieron Dyer and Nicky Butt - have still not proved their fitness.

Beckham and Dyer will miss the friendly against Cameroon tomorrow, although Butt is at least set to return to full training today and could still be one of a whole host of substitutes.

Apart from those injured players, as well as short-term doubts Ashley Cole and Robbie Fowler, Eriksson is expected to start with his first-choice team.

That means Michael Owen is to continue as stand-in captain, even though indications were given to him earlier this week that he could be rested for his own protection from this final warm-up.

Rio Ferdinand nevertheless revealedhow the players are ``scared'' of losing their places in the opening World Cup game against Sweden if they are rested, even against a physical Cameroon side, at this late stage.

Ferdinand also admitted that the recent injury blows had left the players feeling ``cursed with a bit of bad luck'', although he insists morale remains high and knows other squads have also been hard-hit. Eriksson, whose squad flew to Japan yesterday, certainly does not want heads to drop and declared: ``Does it affect my belief? Not at all.

Idon't want to hear that we have bad luck or any crying because Gary Neville, Steven Gerrard and Danny Murphy aren't here. ``I've had much better weeks, there are no doubts about that. But I'm lucky that I'm manager of England as we are a great football nation and have a lot of good football players. If it had happened to a smaller country with fewer players rather than a 55 million population, it would be worse.''

He added: ``Whether it is bad luck, destiny or something else, I don't know, although I don't believe in curses as these things happen in football.

``I'm not fed up or desperate, I'm looking forward to the World Cup. Those coming in will show the world that they should have been there from the beginning.''

Eriksson again expressed his view that too many games are played in English football, although his main thoughts were for Murphy.

Only called up as a replacement for Gerrard, the midfielder's World Cup dreams came to an abrupt end when a scan diagnosed a fracture to the second metatarsal bone in his left foot.

``He is very disappointed. The only positive thing is that it is not a long-term injury but it is a very negative thing for any player to miss the World Cup,'' added Eriksson.

With hindsight, the England coach should never have agreed to Sinclair returning home to be with his pregnant wife as he was finding it hard coping with being on standby with the rest of the squad.

However, he insists that Sinclair will be welcomed back with open arms by the other players when he rejoins them in Japan tomorrow.

The Swede does not hold it against the West Ham winger even though he must get used to the time difference once again after his third long-haul flight in a week.

``Do I regret him going back? In one way, yes, but in another, no, becausehe wanted to go home and I could understand that,'' said Eriksson. ``He's a very good boy. If you are number 24 and waiting in case one of your friends gets injured, then it's not easy or nice.

``He wanted to go home and it's not a problem. I'm told he's happy now. He's been with us before and is very fit so there were no discussions about that.''

I t had been thought that under21 captain Dunn could be called upon instead but he and Smith, who has filled a variety of roles for the junior side, have been asked to remain in training.

``From what David Platt told me, Smith was one of the best players in the under-21 side's three games. He played up front but also on the left and the right of midfield,'' explained the England coach.

Eriksson can only hope, however, that Smith and Dunn are not needed. After all, calling them up would mean his injury jinx had struck yet again.

CAPTION(S):

GETTING READY: Sven-Goran Eriksson oversees training (top) while Joe Cole (left), Paul Scholes and Sol Campbell go through some stretching exercises; CONFIDENT: Eriksson