England National Football Team Match No. 780

Greece 0 England 2 [0-0]

Wednesday, 6 June 2001

England Pre-Match

Officials

FIFA assigned referee Urs Meier of Switzerland to officiate the match, but he withdrew for personal reasons just before the game, and FIFA assigned Rune Pederson of Norway as replacement referee.  Pederson, born 19 May 1963, earned his FIFA badge in 1988 and is one of Europe's most experienced international referees.  

According to FIFA's match records, Pederson presided over one previous England match, the 1-1 draw with Portugal at Wembley Stadium on 12 December 1995, one of the long string of friendly matches England played in preparation for the European Championship final tournament of 1996.  Pederson also officiated in two earlier Greece matches.  The first was Greece's 2-0 home victory over Slovenia on 24 April 1996, a World Cup 1998 qualifying match.  The second was Greece's 2-0 World Cup 2002 qualifying loss to Albania in Tiranë on 11 October 2000.  That loss sent Greece's hopes of qualification plummeting, and Pederson came under heated criticism on claims he failed to take any action on repeated fouls against Greece's players.

Pederson will be accompanied by an all-Norwegian officiating crew:  assistant referee Ole Hermann Borgan, born 10 October 1964, FIFA badge 1996; assistant referee Steinar Holvik, born 21 July 1968, FIFA badge 2000; and fourth official Tommy Skjerven, born 25 July 1967, FIFA referee badge 2001.

All information is complete to and including the match against Mexico on 25 May 2001.

Notes

Friday, 25 May 2001 - The England squad emerged unscathed from the 4-0 trouncing of Mexico in tonight's friendly match at Pride Park in Derby, although 21 of the 22 available players were given playing time.  At a post-match press conference, coach Sven-Göran Eriksson said he would take all the squad members to the training camp in La Manga, Spain to prepare for the World Cup 2002 preliminary match against Greece on Saturday, 6 June, although Wes Brown, who missed the Mexico match because of an Achilles tendon injury, would have to pass a fitness test before he would be allowed to rejoin the squad.   Ray Parlour, who also missed the Mexico match because of a minor thumb injury, and Danny Mills, who was given a late call to the squad on Brown's withdrawal from the Mexico match, will be among those taking part in the week-long training camp.  Steve McManaman, given permission to miss the Mexico match because his club side, Real Madrid, had an important end-of-season Spanish league fixture, will join the squad after it reaches La Manga.

Monday, 28 May 2001 - Wes Brown failed a fitness test administered by England physiotherapist Alan Smith at Manchester United's Carrington training ground and withdrew from the England squad.

Tuesday, 29 May 2001 - All but one of the 24 remaining England squad members embarked for La Manga, where they were joined by the 24th player, Steve McManaman, who reported directly from his home in Madrid.

Thursday, 1 June 2001 - Coach Eriksson announced that Joe Cole and Michael Carrick, who both made their senior side debuts against Mexico, would be transferred to the under-21 squad the next day in the expectation they will play against the Greece under-21 side on Tuesday.  The under-21 squad had been depleted by several injuries.  Eriksson said Cole and Carrick would remain part of the senior squad after the Greece match.

Monday, 5 June 2001 - The England squad wound up their week-long training session in La Manga and flew to Athens two days ahead of their World Cup qualifier against Greece.  The squad that arrived in La Manga remains intact apart from the transfer of Joe Cole and Michael Carrick to the under-21 squad.  Fitness tests put to rest minor injury concerns about David Seaman, Paul Scholes and David Beckham.  Although Steven Gerrard has been rested during some training sessions, he is expected to be fit to play against Greece.     

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PY/CG