England are confident Steven Gerrard will be fit for their World Cup opener against Paraguay on Saturday.

The Liverpool midfielder missed Wednesday's training session in Germany with a stiff back which had caused him to pull out of the closing stages of the previous day's session.

Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson views his absence as merely a precaution and expects Gerrard to be firing on all cylinders by the time England launch their bid for glory this summer.