Fabio Capello raised fears last night about England’s goalkeeping situation at next summer’s World Cup finals by revealing that David James is unable to train for two days after each match at present because of a knee injury.

The problem is intensified by the fact that Ben Foster, who kept goal in the 1-0 defeat by Brazil in Qatar on Saturday evening, believes he is now third-choice goalkeeper at Manchester United, a situation he described in Doha as “very, very disheartening”.

James was unable to travel to Doha, meaning that he has played in only one of the national team’s past eight matches. The 39-year-old Portsmouth goalkeeper remains bullish about making a full recovery in time for the World Cup finals in South Africa at the end of the season, but Capello has suggested that James’s fitness may be an issue during a tournament in which a team’s first four matches are played over a 15-day period.

“We spoke with David James and he needed more time after every game,” the England manager said. “He can’t train for two days after each game, so we preferred that he stayed at home. If he is fit, he will be with us — probably. When we choose the players, they have to be fit. He has to be fit.”

Capello’s concerns over James have led him to look at alternatives in case his first-choice goalkeeper is not able to play next summer. In James’s absence, Robert Green started six consecutive matches before his sending-off for a professional foul in the 1-0 defeat by Ukraine last month. In the past two matches Capello has chosen Foster in a clear deviation from his stated policy that players must perform regularly for their clubs to play for their country.

Foster began the season with the opportunity to establish himself as United goalkeeper, with Edwin van der Sar injured, in the knowledge that there was also a potential vacancy with England. But a series of high-profile errors meant that he made way for Van der Sar last month and, with Tomasz Kuszczak preferred as a substitute in recent weeks, Foster is concerned that his prospects at Old Trafford appear bleak for the foreseeable future.

“I’m not playing at United, which makes it a lot more difficult for myself,” Foster said. “It’s very, very disheartening. I’ve not been on the bench lately and you have to keep your head up, keep working hard in training and I’m really thankful to the boss \ for giving me a chance.

“It’s difficult at United with Edwin. He’s one of the best ’keepers in the world. You can’t go knocking on the manager’s door and say he’s not doing his job because he is doing his job. The World Cup is a big thing. It’s everything. A footballer wants to go the World Cup, simple as that.

“I’m third choice for Manchester United at the moment and yet I’m playing for my country. It’s a weird one. I’ll see what happens. I can’t go saying that I want to leave or anything like that.”

Van der Sar, 39, has yet to indicate whether he will continue playing when his contract at Old Trafford expires in June, but Foster’s need for first-team football is immediate. It seems unlikely that Sir Alex Ferguson would allow him to leave on loan, having rejected the notion in the summer.

Ferguson may be more concerned about the thigh injury, sustained in training at the Khalifa International Stadium on Friday, that forced Michael Carrick to miss the match against Brazil, but a scan taken a day later suggested that the midfield player could be fit in time to play for United against Everton on Saturday.

There was a similar bulletin from the FA over John Terry, the England captain, who missed the game in Doha after sustaining an Achilles tendon injury in training on Thursday, 24 hours after Frank Lampard, his Chelsea team-mate, suffered a thigh injury.

Whereas Lampard is struggling to be fit for Chelsea’s Barclays Premier League match against Arsenal on November 29, Terry could be back in time to play against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Saturday.