England National Football Team Match No. 788

England 4 Paraguay 0 [1-0]

Wednesday, 17 April 2002

England Pre-Match

All information is complete and includes England's match against Italy on 27 March 2002, the seventh of the 2001-02 season.

Notes

Saturday, 13 April 2002 - Coach Sven-Göran Eriksson announced a 25-player squad for Wednesday's friendly match against Paraguay.  The only major surprise was the inclusion of Blackburn Rovers' uncapped forward Matt Jensen.  

Unavailable for selection because of injuries were Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, Emile Heskey and, of course, captain David Beckham.  Their absence has dashed Eriksson's hope of playing his first-choice eleven for at least the first half against Paraguay.

There had been speculation that Blackburn Rovers' Andrew Cole would earn a recall in view of Heskey's absence, but it was his teammate Jansen who benefitted.  The other possbilities, Leeds United's Alan Smith and West Ham United's Jermaine Dafoe, uncapped at the senior level, were again chosen for the under-21 squad.

West Ham United's young midfielder Joe Cole was selected despite an uneven performance against Italy last month, which saw him create Robbie Fowler's goal and then give the ball away in front of his own net, allowing Italy to score their opening goal.  He is probably the beneficiary of Beckham's absence.  His teammate Michael Carrick again joins the under-21 squad.

As expected, Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman won a recall following a period in which he was injured or rested.  His teammate Richard Wright was dropped.

There were no recalls for veteran midfielders Darren Anderton of Tottenham Hotspurs or Steve McManaman of Real Madrid.  Their exclusion indicates their World Cup squad ambitions are over barring misfortune to others.  

The same is true of  left backs Chris Powell of Charlton Athletic and Graeme Le Saux of Chelsea, who were not recalled despite Ashley Cole's injury, and of central defender Martin Keown, who was not recalled following injury despite Ferdinand's injury.

Eriksson will name his stand-in captain Monday.  Ferdinand's injury leaves Campbell, Gary Neville and possibly Southgate as the candidates.  Campbell has led England twice before.  Seaman has also captained England, and Fowler took over the armband against Italy when Beckham was substituted.

Sunday, 14 April 2002 - The F.A. Cup semi-final between Arsenal and Middlesbrough results in hamstring injuries for Sol Campbell and Ugo Ehiogu.  They are forced to withdraw from the squad to face Paraguay, with a resulting call-up for Martin Keown.

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PY/CG