England keeper Green to miss World Cup

England keeper Robert Green is virtually certain to miss the World Cup after suffering a serious groin injury in a 'B' international against Belarus on Thursday. "It's bad news - almost for sure he is out of the World Cup," coach Sven-Goran Eriksson...

England keeper Robert Green is virtually certain to miss the World Cup after suffering a serious groin injury in a 'B' international against Belarus on Thursday.

"It's bad news - almost for sure he is out of the World Cup," coach Sven-Goran Eriksson said of England's third-choice keeper behind David James and Paul Robinson.

"It's a bad groin injury," Eriksson told a news conference after his team's 2-1 defeat.

Liverpool's Scott Carson, England's standby keeper for Germany, took over between the posts at Reading and will now be promoted into the World Cup squad.

Green suffered the injury as he tried to take a goal-kick in the 50th minute, five minutes after taking over from James for the second half.

He collapsed in agony as his left leg gave way and he left the pitch distraught on a stretcher.

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