Owen likely to start for England
ENGLAND v HUNGARY
Date: 30 May 2006
Kick-off: 2005 BST
Venue: Old Trafford, Manchester
Live on Match of the Day, Radio Five Live and this website
Michael Owen is expected to start England's World Cup warm-up against Hungary despite fears over his thigh.
Owen, 26, was a doubt for Tuesday's friendly game at Old Trafford after an injury scare on Monday.
The Newcastle forward underwent a scan on a tight thigh muscle after training on Monday, which revealed no damage.
He is set for a lone striker role, with Steven Gerrard playing in an advanced position and Jamie Carragher coming in as a holding midfielder.
Owen made his return to action for England B against Belarus on Thursday and played for an hour.
He was in line to play the full 90 minutes against Hungary to help build his match fitness but that plan was put under threat by Owen's injury scare.
Eriksson is believed to be keen to move away from his usual 4-4-2 system and try Owen up front on his own, with a five-man midfield and Peter Crouch having to settle for a place on the bench.
With Wayne Rooney sidelined Eriksson appears keen to give Gerrard and Frank Lampard the freedom to get forward from midfield and maximise their goal threat.
The Swede had said he would select his best available team, which will also be the likely line-up for their opening World Cup group game against Paraguay on 10 June.
Eriksson said: "It's a good opportunity for them to play 90 minutes and it will be what I think is the strongest team.
"We have decided exactly what to do but I'm not going to tell you until Tuesday."
LIKELY LINE-UP
Robinson, G Neville, A Cole, Terry, Ferdinand, Carragher or Carrick, Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham, J Cole, Owen or Crouch
Asked whether it was a good chance for Crouch and Owen to work on their partnership, he stated: "There's a lot of work to do, of course. I'm not talking about those two but in general.
"We have the game against Hungary and the game on Saturday against Jamaica. The two matches are very important to us."
Lampard's Chelsea team-mate John Terry is set to play his first game in more than a month after missing the end of the domestic season with an ankle injury.
Michael Carrick was expected to be first choice for the holding role - if Eriksson opted to play five in midfield.
But Carragher, who started at centre-half for England B on Thursday but ended the game in midfield, is widely reported to have jumped ahead of Carrick in the pecking order.
Hungary include three British-based players in their squad in West Brom's Zoltan Gera and Crystal Palace duo Gabor Kiraly and Sandor Torghelle, who spent last season on loan to Panithinaikos. | 
