All information is
complete to and including England's last match, the second of the 2004-05 season,
against Austria on 4 September 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 begin brightly in
their opening World Cup qualification match, but lose a two-nil lead
to draw the match with Austria. Their are injury concerns over Wayne
Bridge, who has suffered an achilles injury. DAvid Beckham also
suffered with a rib injury during the match, and Steven Gerrard was
withdrawn towards the end of the match as a precaution.
Monday, 6 September 2004 -
Nicky Butt will not be joining up with the squad as he
continues to receive treatment to a hamstring injury in Newcastle. Steven Gerrard sat out the last few minutes of training
today as
a precautionary measure, but Wayne Bridge did take part in the full
training session in Vienna. David Beckham, in the meantime,
left training early. He will be assessed again on by the
medical team tomorrow morning.
Tuesday, 7 September 2004 -
Eriksson is confident captain
David Beckham will be fit to face Poland. "He had a scan yesterday
and there is nothing broken so he will try to train today. I can't say I'm sure he will play because I am not sure but
I think he will play."
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