England stars Michael Owen and Paul Scholes are winning their race to be fit to face Brazil in Friday's World Cup quarter-final clash.

The duo did not take part in England's training session at their Awaji Island headquarters today but both will join in with full training on Thursday.

Liverpool striker Owen has been an injury concern since suffering a groin injury after two minutes of Saturday's 3-0 win over Denmark.

Scholes collected a minor foot injury in Niigata on Saturday and was replaced after 50 minutes by Kieron Dyer but he is also making encouraging progress and should join the rest of the squad for tomorrow's training session ahead of the Friday morning showdown.

England were also boosted by the return to full training of Bayern Munich midfielder Owen Hargreaves since he picked up a leg injury in the early stages of the victory over Argentina.

England coach Sven Goran Eriksson said: "I think by Friday everybody will be fit. On Tuesday we had two or three who didn't train but they only have small problems.

"We are almost sure that Owen and Scholes will be fit for Friday.

England skipper David Beckham saw Brazil's 2-0 win over Belgium.

He is convinced his men can beat the South Americans and clinch a semi-final place against Turkey or South Korea.

He said: "Of course they're beatable. We went down there to watch them because they're Brazil but we also went to see what sort of team they are.

"I don't think they are worried about playing England but then I don't think we are too worried about playing them either."