The Three Lions squad for the matches against Austria and Poland  September 2004
Player	Birthdate	Age	Pos	Club	St	Sub	App	G	Capt
Beckham, David R.J.	2 May 1975	29	M	Real Madrid CF, Spain	70	3	73	14	37	1 9
Bridge, Wayne M.	5 August 1980	24	D	Chelsea FC	8	9	17	1	0	1
Butt, Nicholas	21 January 1975	29	M	Newcastle United FC	24	12	36	0	0	1
	Nicky Butt pulled out of the squad on 2 September, due to a hamstring injury.
Carragher, James L.D.	28 January 1978	26	D	Liverpool FC	4	9	13	0	0	1
Cole, Ashley	20 December 1980	23	D	Arsenal FC	31	0	31	0	0	2
Cole, Joseph J.	8 November 1981	22	M	Chelsea FC	2	15	17	2	0	None
Defoe, Jermain C.	7 October 1982	21	F	Tottenham Hotspur FC	0	3	3	0	0	None
Dyer, Kieron C.	29 December 1978	25	M	Newcastle United FC	7	17	24	0	0	None
Gerrard, Steven G.	30 May 1980	24	M	Liverpool FC	28	1	29	4	1	4
Green, Robert P.	19 January 1980	24	G	Norwich City FC	0	0	0	0 GA	0	None
Hargreaves, Owen L.	20 January 1981 born in Canada	23	M	FC Bayern München, Germany	7	15	22	0	0	None
James, David B.	1 August 1970	34	G	Manchester City FC	23	6	29	23 GA	0	3
Jenas, Jermaine A.	18 February 1983	21	M	Newcastle United FC	0	7	7	0	0	None
King, Ledley B.	12 October 1980	23	D	Tottenham Hotspur FC	3	5	8	0	0	None
Lampard, Frank J.	20 June 1978	26	M	Chelsea FC	16	8	24	5	0	1
Neville, Gary A.	18 February 1975	29	D	Manchester United FC	63	5	68	0	0	5
Owen, Michael J.	14 December 1979	24	F	Real Madrid CF, Spain	51	10	61	27	6	2
Robinson, Paul W.	15 October 1979	24	G	Tottenham Hotspur FC	1	4	5	4 GA	0	None
Smith, Alan	28 October 1980	23	F	Manchester United FC	3	6	9	1	0	1 2
Terry, John G.	7 December 1980	23	D	Chelsea FC	11	1	12	0	0	None
Upson, Matthew J.	18 April 1979	25	D	Birmingham City FC	4	2	6	0	0	None
Vassell, Darius C.	13 June 1980	24	F	Aston Villa FC	6	16	22	6	0	None
Wright-Phillips, Shaun C.	25 October 1981	22	F	Manchester City FC	0	1	1	1	0	None

All information is complete to and including England's last match, the first of the 2004-05 season, against Ukraine on 18 August 2004.

Diary

Friday, 5 December 2003 - England were placed in a half-British group for qualifying for the 2006 World Cup, which took place in Frankfurt this evening and will involve the Three Lions playing home-and-away fixtures with five other nations in total, beginning two months after the conclusion of Euro 2004. The other countries are Northern Ireland, Wales, Poland, Austria and Azerbaijan.

Tuesday, 13 January 2004 - Austria will provide the first opponents for England as they begin the journey to the World Cup Finals in Germany in 2006. England are in a group alongside Wales and Northern Ireland as well as Austria, Poland and Azerbaijan.

Sunday, 29 August 2004 - Sven-Göran Eriksson has left out Emile Heskey for the World Cup qualifiers against Austria and Poland. But Eriksson has kept faith with Alan Smith and Jermain Defoe, who played in the recent friendly with Ukraine. Joe Cole has returned after injury but Phil Neville was still excluded, even though Glen Johnson has dropped back down to the under-21s. Norwich keeper Robert Green was called up to replace Chris Kirkland. Joe Cole has returned to the squad after injury, with Eriksson heartened that the Chelsea midfielder has started to earn a more regular place at club level. Shaun Wright-Phillips has, meanwhile, been included even though there are doubts over his fitness with a back injury.

Tuesday, 31 August 2004 - Eriksson will assess the fitness of injured winger Shaun Wright-Phillips on tomorrow. Meanwhile, Nicky Butt has a hamstring injury which threatens his place in both the upcoming qualifiers. "He's a doubt and it's almost for sure he can't play on Saturday. But we can only take a decision with him, the physios and the doctors. At this time I am not thinking of bringing someone else in."

Thursday, 2 September 2004 - Shaun Wright-Phillips joined the 22-man squad in the session at Arsenal's London Colney complex after recovering from his ankle knock. However, Nicky Butt will miss the Austria game because of his hamstring injury. The Newcastle midfielder is also doubtful for next week's second qualifier against Poland, and is back in Newcastle upon Tyne for treatment. Steven Gerrard is expected to be fit despite missing the end of Thursday's training.  Gerrard was troubled by a groin problem but the England coaching staff are confident he will train tomorrow. 

Friday, 3 September 2004 - Gerrard was not fit enough to train today. Eriksson said: "It's not serious. We will take a decision on Saturday lunchtime whether he'll play.  If there's a risk of him making it worse he will not play. We will leave it as late as possible."

Saturday, 4 September 2004 - Steven Gerrard had started the day still remaining a doubt to play because of his troublesome groin injury. However, in the early afternoon, he was passed fit to play and took his place in the starting line-up.

England Form: last six games
W L W W D W  f 19:a 7  success: 75%
813	5 June 2004 - England 6 Iceland 1 [3-1] City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester (43,500)	Lampard, Rooney (2), Vassell (2), Bridge Helguson	TC	HW
814	13 June 2004 - France 2 England 1 [0-1] Estadio do SL Benfica, Lisboa (62,487)	Lampard Zidane (2 (1 pen))	ECF	NL
815	17 June 2004 - England 3 Switzerland 0 [1-0] Estadio Municipal de Coimbra, Coimbra (28,214)	Rooney (2), Gerrard		NW
		Haas
816	21 June 2004 - Croatia 2 England 4 [1-2] Estadio do SL Benfica, Lisboa (57,047)	N Kovač, Tudor Scholes, Rooney (2), Lampard		NW
817	24 June 2004 - Portugal 2 England 2 [0-1] AET [1-1] & Penalties [6-5] Estadio do SL Benfica, Lisboa (62,564)	Postiga, Rui Costa Owen, Lampard		AD
818	18 August 2004 - England 3 Ukraine 0 [1-0] St James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne (35,387)	Beckham, Owen, Wright-Phillips	Fr	HW

____________________

CG