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England coach Fabio Capello has given midfielder Gareth Barry another week to prove his fitness for the World Cup.The 29-year-old player underwent tests on an ankle ligament problem on Tuesday after suffering the injury playing for Manchester City on 5 May.
Capello has to name his 23-man squad on 1 June, ahead of their World Cup opener against the United States on 11 June.
The Italian has insisted he would not include anyone in his final squad if they were unfit to play in the US game.
And the 63-year-old Capello reiterated this point earlier this week, stressing: "If Barry is fit, he will come with us. If not, he will stay at home. He is one of the players we want to be fit."
One potential safety net Capello has at his disposal is that Fifa rules allow managers to replace any player ruled out through injury after the final squads are confirmed up to 24 hours before the first game.
However, the former Real Madrid and Milan coach is clearly giving Barry, who has started 19 of the 22 England matches the Italian has overseen, every chance of proving his fitness.
It was initially thought Barry had an appointment with his specialist on Tuesday to assess his recovery, but instead the 29-year-old will undergo a series of rigorous tests on the injury he picked up playing for Manchester City against Tottenham in the Premier League.
If Barry does not prove his fitness, Capello could turn to Aston Villa's James Milner - recently crowned Professional Footballers' Association young player of the year - or Michael Carrick of Manchester United.
The England manager has also been looking into the possibility of switching to a three centre-back system although he played with two central defenders in the 3-1 friendly victory over Mexico at Wembley on Monday night - starting with Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand and Tottenham's Ledley King.
England's players will now return to Irdning in the Austrian Alps for further training before playing a final warm-up game, against Japan, on Sunday.This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.