The Three Lions meet South African outfit Platinum Stars on Monday as Capello hopes his players don’t catch the injury fever that spread of late.

A host of high-profile stars have suffered late blows days before the finals, most notably England captain Rio Ferdinand who was ruled out on Friday.

"I have to play all the players that will play against the U.S.A. for 45 minutes or 60 minutes," Capello said.

"I don’t know if it is a major risk. I touch wood. We have to be careful about injuries but we have to prepare for that game.

"I know what can happen (with injuries), but that is the job. What do you do? Swim and not play? You have to train. Sometimes you try to be careful and it still doesn’t work."

England play their opening game against the US on June 12th, before taking on Algeria and Slovenia in Group C.