Football story by Dominic Taylor, Sun, 25 Dec 2005 08:04:00 GMT


MANCHESTER, England - Gabriel Heinze could miss the World Cup in Germany next year, according to Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson. The Argentinean defender has been out of action since September after tearing cruciate ligaments in the knee in a Champions' League encounter with Villarreal.

"Every player would want to play in the World Cup, I'm not disputing that. But I can't see it myself," Ferguson said. "I would have thought it was very, very unlikely for him to be playing this season. I don't think he will be available until next season, that's what my stance on that is." Heinze moved to United from Paris St Germain and is a key part of Argentina's team. He has played 28 matches for the national side.

However, Ferguson had better news about Norwegian striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, “He's trained every day since he came back and has been doing very well. It's unfortunate that the reserves don't play again until the middle of next month, but hopefully we'll get him a bit of football in the next couple of weeks," he said, adding that it was possible he could play in the hectic Christmas program.

“We have four games in eight days and I would think that all the squad players will be involved at some point over Christmas. He's been training well.” United have recently been hit by injuries and Louis Saha only made a comeback recently. Quinton Fortune has also had knee problems and he has not taken the field since the FA Cup final in May this year.

Ferguson is hoping that Chelsea will drop some points in the hectic days ahead and that his team can take advantage of the same, "People are probably going on the assumption that Chelsea are not going to drop any points and their record over the last year and a half gives strength to that idea," he admitted. "We have to be in a position to hope that they do slip up. We are the nearest team to them, that's all we can do."

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