England National Football Team Match No. 803

England 2 Serbia and Montenegro 1 [1-1]

Tuesday, 3 June 2003

England Pre-Match

Notes

Wednesday, 5 March 2003 -

We can reveal that Leicester City F.C. has been chosen to host England's friendly fixture with Serbia and Montenegro this summer...

England's penultimate home fixture of the season will take place at the Walkers Stadium on Tuesday June 3rd, (8.00pm kick off).

This will be the first full international to be hosted by Leicester City, either at their new home or Filbert Street. However Leicester has hosted England's Under-21s on three occasions, all at Filbert Street, most recently against Mexico two years ago.

While England has never played Serbia and Montenegro at international level before, there have been 14 senior internationals against Yugoslavia. Our most recent encounter took place at Wembley in 1989 with England winning 2-1 - Bryan Robson scoring the opening goal after 38 seconds.

The FA's Director of Marketing and Communications Paul Barber told TheFA.com: "We're delighted to be staging a senior international at the Walkers Stadium.

"It has been a very difficult time for everyone connected with the club, so it is appropriate that the national team fixture coincides with such an upturn in Leicester City's fortunes.

"The Walkers Stadium is a terrific stage for international football and I'm sure we can look forward to a tremendous atmosphere in front of a capacity crowd in June."

Thursday, 22 May 2003 - Liverpool utility player Jamie Carragher has been called into the England squad for the games against Serbia and Montenegro and Slovakia.  Carragher, who has not figured in an England squad for more than a year, will join the squad for a five-day training camp in Spain.  His last appearance under Sven-Göran Eriksson was as a substitute in the pre-World Cup friendly with Paraguay at Anfield.  Carragher will join the squad on Sunday - after the friendly against South Africa - as cover for John Terry, who has a thigh injury.  Terry remains hopeful of being fit enough to take part in the La Manga training camp ahead of the friendly with Serbia and Montenegro at Leicester on 3 June and the Euro 2004 qualifier with Slovakia at the Riverside Stadium eight days later.  But if the Chelsea player misses the June internationals Eriksson now has another defensive option. Football Association spokesman Adrian Bevington confirmed: "Jamie Carragher will join up with the England party in La Manga on Sunday for the remainder of their summer schedule."

Monday, 19 May 2003 - Gareth Barry has been called into England's squad for the summer internationals.  Barry's original omission was a surprise with England's two first-choice left-backs not travelling to South Africa for Thursday's friendly.  Ashley Cole and Wayne Bridge will be absent because of their participation in the FA Cup final - but will join up with the squad for the summer's other two games. Eriksson has also been hit by the withdrawal through injury of Chelsea's John Terry. Terry has a thigh injury and will take no part in the South Africa game, although he is hoping to be available for Serbia & Montenegro and Slovakia.

Monday, 12 May 2003 - England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson named Everton's injured striker Wayne Rooney in his 25-man squad for three upcoming matches. Rooney suffered knee ligament damage in Everton's final match of the season against Manchester United on Sunday, and could yet be ruled out of their first game.  Players involved in next Saturday's FA Cup final between Arsenal and Southampton will not travel to South Africa but will join the squad on their return.

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CG/PY