England National Football Team Match No. 779

England 4 Mexico 0 [3-0]

Friday, 25 May 2001

England Pre-Match

All information is complete to and including the match against Albania on 28 March 2001.

Notes

Wednesday, 10 January 2001 - The Football Association announced England will play a friendly match against Mexico at Pride Park, home of Derby County, on 25 May 2001. 

The Mexico match, which will serve as preparation for England's World Cup 2002 qualification match in Greece on 6 June, is the first full international to be held at Pride Park, although two of Derby County's former homes staged British Championship matches against Ireland, the Baseball Ground England's 2-1 victory on 11 February 1911 and the Derbyshire County Cricket Club England's 9-0 win on 9 March 1895.  The award of the match to Derby represents recognition of the large attendances Pride Park drew for two recent England under-21 matches.

England last played Mexico in their 2-0 friendly match victory at Wembley Stadium on 29 March 1997. 

Soon after meeting Mexico, the England squad will leave for a week-long training session at La Manga in southern Spain, the camp former England manager Glenn Hoddle used to prepare his squad for World Cup 1998, where, it is hoped, the players will become used to the heat they will face in Greece.  From La Manga, they will fly straight to Greece about three days before the qualification match.

Sunday, 20 May 2001 - Coach Sven-Göran Eriksson summoned a 24-man squad for the friendly match against Mexico at Pride Park in Derby on Friday, 25 May and the World Cup 2002 preliminary match against Greece at Olympic Stadium in Athens on 6 June.

There were several changes from the last squad, the 26-player squad Eriksson chose for the World Cup 2002 preliminary matches against Finland at Anfield Road in Liverpool on 24 March 2001 and against Albania at Qemal Stafa Stadium in Tiranë on 28 March 2001.

Eriksson gave recalls to four players:  Martin Keown, Ray Parlour, Alan Smith, who is uncapped, and Gareth Southgate.  

Six players were omitted.  Four of them were unavailable for selection because of injury:  Sol Campbell, Frank Lampard, Gary Neville and Richard Wright.  Andrew Cole is suspended for the World Cup qualifier against Greece because he picked up his second caution of the preliminary competition against Albania, and since the Mexico friendly is a warmup for the Greece qualifier, Eriksson did not select him.  Gavin McCann was dropped.

Still unavailable for selection through injury are Darren Anderton, Keiron Dyer and Jamie Redknapp.  Nick Barmby has only just returned from injury and was probably deemed not ready for international play.   

There was no recall for Ugo Ehiogu or Kevin Phillips, both of whom were members of Eriksson's first squad for the Spain match in February.   Ehiogu was unavailable for selection because he is to undergo surgery for a hernia, but Phillips was fit.  Nor was there a recall for Graeme Le Saux, who is now fit following his return from long-term injury.

Several players who have been named to previous England senior squads have been named once again to the under-21 squad:  Michael Ball, Gareth Barry, Seth Johnson and Paul Robinson.

Monday, 21 May 2001 - Coach Sven-Göran Eriksson announced that with his consent Steve McManaman will not be available for the match against Mexico because his club side, Real Madrid, have an important end-of-season match against Alaves the next day.  McManaman will join the squad the following week at their training camp in La Manga, Spain ahead of the match against Greece.

Tuesday, 22 May 2001 - Uncapped Leeds United defender Danny Mills was given a late call to join the squad because Manchester United defender Wes Brown has an Achilles tendon problem and was unable to take part in training today at Derby County's Pride Park.  The England coaching staff gave Brown 24 hours to prove his fitness.  Mills figured briefly in the England squad in June 1999 when Kevin Keegan gave him a call for the European Championship match in Bulgaria.  Mills, then with Charlton Athletic, did not play on that occasion and has not been recalled since.  If Brown is forced to withdraw, the England squad will be reduced to two recognized right backs in Manchester United's Phil Neville and Liverpool's Jamie Carragher.  After an excellent season with Leeds, Mills was an obvious choice as cover for Brown.  

Wednesday, 23 May 2001 - England assistant coach Peter Taylor announced that Wes Brown's achilles tendon injury has forced his withdrawal from the squad for the Mexico match.  He is undergoing treatment, Taylor said, and may yet be available for the World Cup 2002 qualification match against Greece on 6 June.

Thursday, 24 May 2001 - Coach Sven-Göran Eriksson announced Ray Parlour will be unavailable for the Mexico match because of an injured thumb.  He went for x-rays on Wednesday after training and ended up having minor surgery.

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PY/CG