Neville fitness boost for England

Gary Neville should be fit for England's quarter-final with Portugal after struggling with a calf injury, says assistant manager Steve McClaren.

The defender, 31, played in England's opening game and has missed the last three games but is back in training.

"He's recovering well, should train on Tuesday and definitely on Wednesday," said McClaren.

"He needs a few days' training and hopefully he'll be in contention for Saturday's game."

Despite England having reached the last eight, a combination of uninspiring displays and doubts over their formation has seen the team come in for criticism.

But McClaren, who will take over from coach Sven-Goran Eriksson after the tournament, said everything had been going to plan so far in the team's World Cup campaign.

"After the Sweden game we had four days to prepare for Ecuador," he said.

"Two of those were recovery days to get the players back to the level they were at previous to that game, then two days were spent working on the team in preparation for Ecuador.

"We knew the team on Wednesday evening when Sven gave us that. We never tried any other formation.

"We won the game and that's the most important thing. Winning football matches gets you further in the tournament."

Meanwhile, Dutch midfielder Mark van Bommel says England should be able to beat Portugal on Saturday without too many problems.

Holland's World Cup dreams were ended by the Portuguese after an ill-tempered match that saw two players from each side sent off.

From : BBC