When Eriksson submitted his final squad list on 21 May, Gerrard (who needed an operation on his groin), was excluded, but Dyer was named in the squad, desperately trying to prove that his knee would be up to the task. England still had until June 1 to make any changes to their squad due to late injuries. Sinclair, meanwhile, remained on standby, but flew home to his pregnant wife, despite Eriksson asking him to stay with the squad, which was now in Korea Republic and about to head to Japan for a final warm-up match against Cameroon.

There was a further twist on the very next day, when Murphy fell awkwardly in training. Just like Beckham (still recovering) and Gary Neville (withdrawn) before him, he had broken a metatarsal and the newest member of the squad was out, with just over a week to go to England's first game. Incredibly, having just completed a 6,000-mile journey home because the injured Dyer had been picked ahead of him, Trevor Sinclair was summoned to re-join the squad in Japan as a replacement for Murphy, the original standby.

With David Beckham and Nicky Butt also recovering from injuries to add to the concerns over Dyer, Eriksson was moved to add two more players, from England's European Under-21 Championship squad, on standby. These were Alan Smith of Leeds United and David Dunn of Blackburn Rovers, who had both impressed during the recent tournament in Switzerland.

As it transpired, no more replacements were necessary. Beckham and Dyer appeared in the first game and Butt played in the second, whilst the endurance demonstrated by Sinclair's multiple long-haul flights was rewarded with four World Cup appearances for the winger.