A Plague i say! i Plague on ALL your houses. (most it seems)

Brazil- Ronaldo missed training yesterday after waking up with a 'slight fever' five days before Brazil start their World Cup defence against Croatia.

England- Steven Gerrard missed Wednesday's training session with what coach Sven-Goran Eriksson described as a 'stiff back'.
But the player told reporters yesterday: 'It's not really a back problem. I got a knock on my hip and it's just made my back go into spasm a bit.

Germany- Michael Ballack, the symbol of the new German team, regrets he cannot make it to the ball. He has a sore calf muscle and did not think it serious enough to get treatment on Monday, his day-off with the kids at home.

France- Djibril Cisse, the Liverpool forward whose luck is so wretched, had broken his right leg in a warm-up match against China on Wednesday.

Italy- Francesco Totti has bemoaned the Azzurri's bad luck after they were hit by a series of late injuries ahead of their opening World Cup match against Ghana on Monday. In the last two days, full-back Gianluca Zambrotta and midfielder Gennaro Gattuso have been ruled out of Italy's opener with thigh injuries. Alessandro Nesta also aggravated an old muscle injury and missed training yesterday.