WAYNE ROONEY, the player on whom England’s hopes of World Cup success were pinned, is almost certainly out of the tournament after breaking a bone in his right foot in yesterday’s match against Chelsea.

Doctors said Rooney must rest his foot for six weeks, technically meaning he could return for England’s first World Cup match against Paraguay on June 10, but in reality leaving him with little chance of being fit.

There are also serious doubts about Michael Owen after he broke down during his return to the Newcastle team at Birmingham yesterday saying his injured foot still “does not feel right”. He broke his fifth metatarsal in December.

The England team’s current injury list now presents Sven-Goran Eriksson with the real danger of having to go to Germany without either of his world-class strikers.

Other key players whose fitness is still in question include left back Ashley Cole, Ledley King, who broke his metatarsal in April, and John Terry.

Rooney’s fourth metatarsal was fractured during Manchester United’s 3-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge, during which he was stretchered off in agony.

Initially United played down the injury, saying their £30m player was “okay”. But after limping on to the team coach and travelling back to Manchester with his team-mates he went straight to a private hospital in nearby Whalley Range, where the extent of his injury was diagnosed.

The 20-year-old from Liverpool suffered a similar injury in Euro 2004 when he broke his fifth metatarsal in the quarter finals against Portugal. That put him out of action for 10 weeks.

Hailed as the best English player since the 1966 squad that won the World Cup, Rooney is more than the team’s key player, he is a talisman.

His demise in 2004 marked a downturn in England’s fortunes. Millions will hope for a miraculous escape this time.

Last week the German player Lothar Matthäus, who captained his team to victory in the 1990 World Cup, predicted that Rooney would be the “real star of Germany 2006”.

Eriksson has pledged to name a 26-man squad on May 8 before cutting three names from the list for the final Fifa deadline a week later.

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