The Three Lions squad for the matches against Northern Ireland and Azerbaijan  March 2005.
Player	Birthdate	Age	Pos	Club	St	Sub	App	G	Capt
Beckham, David R.J.	2 May 1975	29	M	Real Madrid CF, Spain	76	3	79	15	43	1 11
Brown, Wesley M.	13 October 1979	25	D	Manchester United FC	4	4	8	0	0	None
Carragher, James L.D.	28 January 1978	27	D	Liverpool FC	5	12	17	0	0	1
Cole, Ashley	20 December 1980	24	D	Arsenal FC	38	0	38	0	0	4
Cole, Joseph J.	8 November 1981	23	M	Chelsea FC	3	17	20	3	0	None
Defoe, Jermain C.	7 October 1982	22	F	Tottenham Hotspur FC	3	6	9	1	0	None
Downing, Stewart	22 July 1984	20	M	Middlesbrough FC	0	1	1	0	0	None
Dyer, Kieron C.	29 December 1978	27	M	Newcastle United FC	7	20	27	0	0	None
Ferdinand, Rio G.	7 November 1978	26	D	Manchester United FC	32	5	37	0	0	1
Gerrard, Steven G.	30 May 1980	24	M	Liverpool FC	32	1	33	5	1	4
Green, Robert P.	18 January 1980	25	G	Norwich City FC	0	0	0	0 GA	0	None
Hargreaves, Owen L.	20 January 1981 born in Canada	24	M	FC Bayern München eV, Germany	7	19	26	0	0	None
Heskey, Emile W.I.	11 January 1978	27	F	Birmingham City FC	26	19	43	5	0	3
James, David B.	1 August 1970	34	G	Manchester City FC	24	6	30	25 GA	0	3
Jenas, Jermaine A.	18 February 1983	22	M	Newcastle United FC	1	9	10	0	0	None
Johnson, Andrew	10 February 1981	24	F	Crystal Palace FC	0	1	1	0	0	None
	Andrew Johnson withdrew from the squad on 22 March due to an ankle injury.
King, Ledley B.	12 October 1980	24	D	Tottenham Hotspur FC	5	6	11	0	0	None
Lampard, Frank J.	20 June 1978	26	M	Chelsea FC	23	8	31	8	0	1
Neville, Gary A.	18 February 1975	30	D	Manchester United FC	70	5	75	0	0	5
Neville, Philip J.	21 January 1977	28	D	Manchester United FC	31	19	50	0	0	2
Owen, Michael J.	14 December 1979	25	F	Real Madrid CF, Spain	58	10	68	29	6	3
Robinson, Paul W.	15 October 1979	25	G	Tottenham Hotspur FC	7	4	11	6 GA	0	None
Rooney, Wayne M.	24 October 1985	19	F	Manchester United FC	19	3	22	9	0	3
Terry, John G.	7 December 1980	24	D	Chelsea FC	15	1	16	0	0	None

All information is complete to and including England's last match, the eighth of the 2004-05 season, against Northern Ireland on 26 March 2005.

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, 20 March 2005 - England coach Sven-Göran Eriksson has named his 24-man squad for the two forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Northern Ireland and Azerbaijan. Included in the squad are five Manchester United players and Birmingham City striker Emile Heskey.  Stewart Downing and Andy Johnson, who both won their first cap against Netherlands in England's last match, are retained.

Tuesday, 22 March 2005 - Kieron Dyer and Andrew Johnson were absent from England's training session on Tuesday as both players recover from foot injuries.   Dyer is expected to train on Wednesday but Johnson will be reassessed by the England medical squad to ascertain whether he can join in on Thursday.  David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Stewart Downing, Jamie Carragher and Emile Heskey also missed Tuesday's session.  They were in action for their clubs on Sunday but will train on Wednesday.
Andrew Johnson was subsequently withdrawn from the squad because of his ankle injury and David Beckham was passed fit following a scan on his back injury.  Kieron Dyer may yet be pulled out of the squad.

Wednesday, 23 March 2005 - David Beckham gave England hopes a boost in the build-up to Saturday's game when he returned to training on Wednesday.  He missed training on Tuesday while he had a scan on a back injury but it turned out to be nothing serious.  Kieron Dyer also trained after missing out on Tuesday with a foot injury.  Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard, Emile Heskey and Stewart Downing were also involved after being rested on Tuesday.  The positive verdicts on Beckham and Dyer will give England a lift after Crystal Palace striker Andrew Johnson was forced to pull out of the squad with an ankle injury.  Eriksson is unlikely to call up a replacement for Johnson despite leaving Manchester United's Alan Smith out of his original squad.

Thursday, 24 March 2005 - England reported a clean bill of health for their penultimate training session ahead of Saturday's World Cup qualifier against Northern Ireland.  Jermaine Jenas returned to action after being excused Wednesday's session to attend a family funeral.  David Beckham and Kieron Dyer showed no ill effects following their return to training on Wednesday after being rested earlier in the week.  Ashley Cole, who has been charged by the Premier League, also figured.

Saturday, 26 March 2005 - England 4 Northern Ireland 0 - England turned on the style and struck four second-half goals to end Northern Ireland's stubborn resistance in the World Cup qualifier at Old Trafford.  Northern Ireland had frustrated England with Wayne Rooney hitting a post and keeper Maik Taylor in outstanding form.  But Joe Cole sparked a spell of three goals in nine minutes after the break.  Michael Owen added a second from close range before Chris Baird turned Rooney's cross into his own net and Frank Lampard hit a deflected fourth.  England were impressive in killing off the Irish once the deadlock was broken, and Sven-Göran Eriksson will be delighted to see his side take another giant stride towards next year's World Cup in Germany.

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CG