England ready to take leap in the dark

Eriksson ignores doubts over Beckham and Butt's fitness and puts faith in untested formation to defeat formidable Argentina

There are two excellent places around Sapporo for Sven Goran Eriksson to take a leap of faith. On the west of the city stand the ski-jumps of Okurayama and Miyanomori, both of which were used in the 1972 Winter Olympics. Improbably, given the 25C temperatures, they claim to be open all-year-round and at night, so Eriksson, a decent ski-jumper in his teens, could have taken a leap into the dark yesterday evening.

Instead it appears he will do so today, here at the Sapporo Dome. It is expected he will ask Paul Scholes to enter the team's "Bermuda Triangle" on the left flank, enabling Nicky Butt to be brought into central midfield in an attempt to nullify Juan Sebastian Veron. Emile Heskey – whose nickname should be "Houdini" rather than "Bruno", so often has he escaped the axe – is likely to partner Michael Owen in attack. Darius Vassell would thus be the only player dropped after the disappointing draw with Sweden.

This selection may yet prove to be inspired but it smacks of panic. Eriksson had spent six months developing a 4-3-3 system with which to combat Argentina's 3-3-1-3 formation. Successfully unveiled in Amsterdam, it worked for 45 minutes against South Korea last month but appears to have been abandoned. Instead the team have had just two days to take on the latest experiment. That David Beckham, Butt and Scholes are Manchester United team-mates should make it easier to incorporate but neither Beckham, nor Butt, are match-fit.

Although the air-conditioned Dome should be cooler than Saitama it is unlikely that they will both last the 90 minutes. Talking of Beckham, Eriksson admitted, after the team had a light work-out at the Dome: "I wish I could say he will last 90 minutes. But I can't. He's going to start and I hope he can run and that his foot is OK for 90 minutes."

Eriksson added: "As a manager you hope you have solved your problems but you only have the answer when you play the next game."

His Argentinian counterpart, Marcelo Bielsa, has brought in Kily Gonzalez for Claudio Lopez, though the latter may yet be reprieved if Juan Sorin suffers a reaction to his fitness test. The likely cover for Ariel Ortega, who has also failed to train fully for three days, is Pablo Aimar. "What we did against Nigeria was not enough," said Bielsa, talking of the 1-0 win in their opening game. He added, perhaps seeking to douse the growing animosity between the sides: "We are not thinking about sending England home. We are only concerned with ourselves. We respect England."

For Scholes the season is ending as it begun, shunted out of position because of Veron. One of England's better players last Sunday, he will be paying a high price for his team-mates' inability to pass. That he has not scored for England since last June will not have helped his cause.

How will he fare on the left? The precedents are not good. Since the resignation of Glenn Hoddle, who usually fielded Graeme Le Saux as a left wing-back, 19 different players have occupied the left flank. Most have disappeared without trace. Remember the international careers of Steve Guppy, Gareth Barry, Jason Wilcox, Michael Gray and Seth Johnson?

At least they were left-footed. The England prospects of Tim Sherwood, Dennis Wise and Ray Parlour never recovered after they were exiled on the left.

Scholes has played on the left for Manchester United, occasionally with good effect as against Leeds and Deportivo La Coruña. But he insists his best position is in the centre and it is likely he will drift in naturally, leaving Ashley Cole with Javier Zanetti and Ortega or Aimar to deal with. Butt and Owen Hargreaves against Veron and Diego Simeone does not sound an even contest either. Nor Kily Gonzalez against Danny Mills.

Yet, as Senegal and the United States have already shown, against France and Portugal, no match in this World Cup is a foregone conclusion. Argentina only managed one goal from a lot of possession against Nigeria, are vulnerable in the air, and Walter Samuel, their key defender, has bad memories of both Owen and Heskey.

Bielsa admitted he was concerned about England's aerial power. He said: "It is not only a question of stopping their players in the air, we have to make sure we address the problem at its root by not letting them get good crosses in." Beckham, by far the best deliverer of crosses in the team, can expect to be tightly marked.

How tightly will be determined by Pierluigi Collina, the imposing Italian referee. England, who suffered from poor refereeing decisions in 1998 and 1986 against Argentina, are happy at his selection. They have seen inexperienced referees occasionally lose control in this tournament but Collina, well known to both sides, is unlikely to do that.

Eriksson may also regard him as a lucky charm. In Italy it is widely believed that, had Collina not insisted Juventus resume their final match of the 1999-2000 season on a sodden pitch, Lazio would not have won the title, giving Eriksson his first scudetto after years of trying.

Until then Eriksson, despite his championship elsewhere and his cup wins in Italy, was regarded as something of a loser in Serie A. Now his ability is again being called into question and, ironically, several of his old Lazio players stand in his way.

"The pressure is on but it is better to have the pressure on you and have a great football team than have a bad football team and no pressure," said Eriksson. He does not have a great team at his disposal but he does have players who are capable of great performances. English players have a habit of raising themselves for matches such as this. Eriksson needs them to do so again.