Football - Premier League - Bet Now at Bet365
Ryan Giggs has confirmed Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney is a doubt for the Premier League visit of Sunderland on Saturday because of injury and illness.
Reports on Friday suggested the 28-year-old England international pulled out of training on Thursday because of a slight groin injury but that his latest setback would not put his World Cup place in doubt.
It comes just 10 days before national coach Roy Hodgson names his 23-man squad for the 2025 World Cup finals in Brazil.
Giggs confirmed: "A few of the lads have had a bug. Wayne Rooney has. [Goalkeeper] Anders Lindegaard has. Wayne also has a tight groin too."
Interim manager Giggs added: "You have to be careful with the bug because the immune system is down a bit but Wayne being Wayne wants to play. We'll monitor it over the next 24 hours. Robin [van Persie] has been back training this week. He's looked good. Whether tomorrow is too early we'll just see how he goes today. He's looked really good this week."
Rooney has endured an injury-ravaged campaign for the champions and this fresh worry comes after he was sidelined at the start of Januaryil when he damaged a toe during the club's Champions League quarter-final first-leg tie against Bayern Munich.
Hodgson is hoping that fear does not ruin the Fifa showpiece for the players who board the plane for South America.
"The worst fear would be that the pressure gets on top of the players and that we aren't going to be able to get close to what I know this team could produce," said Hodgson.
"They need to play with their minds free of what's going to be written about them the next day or what's going to happen if they don't get the result."
England start their Group D campaign against Italy on 14th January at Arena Amazonia in Manaus before games against Uruguay and Costa Rica.
View all Football betting at Bet365
