The Three Lions squad for the matches against South Africa, Serbia/Montenegro & Slovakia  May & June 2003
Player	Birthdate	Age	Pos	Club	St	Sub	App	G	Capt
Barry, Gareth	23 February 1981	22	D	Aston Villa FC	3	5	8	0	0	1
	Gareth Barry joined the squad on 19 May as cover for Ashley Cole and Wayne Bridge.
Beattie, James S.	27 February 1978	25	F	Southampton FC	1	1	2	0	0	None
Beckham, David R.J.	2 May 1975	28	M	Manchester United FC	57	3	60	11	23	1 8
	David Beckham withdrew from the squad on 24 May after fracturing his wrist against South Africa and is suspended for this match against Slovakia.
Bridge, Wayne M.	5 August 1980	22	D	Southampton FC	7	5	12	0	0	None
Carragher, James L.D.	28 January 1978	25	D	Liverpool FC	2	7	9	0	0	1
	Jamie Carragher is called into the squad as replacement for John Terry on 22 May 2003.
Cole, Ashley	20 December 1980	22	D	Arsenal FC	18	0	18	0	0	2
Cole, Joseph J.	8 November 1981	21	M	West Ham United FC	1	9	10	1	0	None
	Joe Cole is a late addition to the squad.
Dyer, Kieron C.	29 December 1978	24	M	Newcastle United FC	7	9	16	0	0	None
	Kieron Dyer withdrew from the squad.
Ferdinand, Rio G.	7 November 1978	24	D	Manchester United FC	27	5	32	0	0	1
	Rio Ferdinand withdrew from the squad because of a knee injury.
Gerrard, Steven G.	30 May 1980	22	M	Liverpool FC	16	1	17	3	0	2
Hargreaves, Owen L.	20 January 1981 born in Canada	22	M	FC Bayern München eV, Germany	5	7	12	0	0	None
Heskey, Emile W.I.	11 January 1978	25	F	Liverpool FC	23	11	34	5	0	3
James, David B.	1 August 1970	32	G	West Ham United FC	9	6	15	10 GA	0	1
Jenas, Jermaine A.	18 February 1983	20	M	Newcastle United FC	0	3	3	0	0	None
Lampard, Frank J.	20 June 1978	24	M	Chelsea FC	4	6	10	0	0	None
Mills, Daniel J.	18 May 1977	25	D	Leeds United AFC	10	6	16	0	0	2
Murphy, Daniel B.	18 March 1977	26	M	Liverpool FC	1	6	7	1	0	None
Neville, Philip J.	21 January 1977	26	D	Manchester United FC	27	12	39	0	0	1
Owen, Michael J.	14 December 1979	23	F	Liverpool FC	39	10	49	20	5	2
Robinson, Paul W.	15 October 1979	23	G	Leeds United AFC	0	2	2	1 GA	0	None
Rooney, Wayne M.	24 October 1985	17	F	Everton FC	1	3	4	0	0	None
Scholes, Paul	16 November 1974	28	M	Manchester United FC	54	2	56	13	0	1 11
Sinclair, Trevor L.	2 March 1973	30	M	West Ham United FC	6	5	11	0	0	None
Southgate, Gareth	3 September 1970	32	D	Middlesbrough FC	42	12	54	2	0	3
Terry, John G.	7 December 1980	22	D	Chelsea FC	0	1	1	0	0	None
Upson, Matthew J.	18 April 1979	24	D	Birmingham City FC	1	1	2	0	0	None
Vassell, Darius C.	13 June 1980	22	F	Aston Villa FC	5	8	13	4	0	None
Walker, Ian M.	31 October 1971	31	G	Leicester City FC	1	2	3	1 GA	0	None

All information is complete to and including England's last match, the eighth of the 2002-03 season, against Serbia & Montenegro on 3 June 2003.

Diary

Friday, 25 January 2002 - The European Championship qualification draw puts second-seeded England in Group Seven with Turkey, as well as Slovakia, FYR Macedonia and Liechtenstein. But no fixtures can be finalised.

Monday, 11 March 2002 - In İstanbul, the Group Seven representatives fail, after five hours, to find a resolution in creating a fixture list.  Eventually the teams agreed to let UEFA resolve the fixture list by drawing lots.

Thursday, 28 March 2002 - UEFA conduct a random draw settling all fixtures.

Thursday, 30 January 2003 - The FA today announced that Middlesbrough FC will host England's European Championship Qualifier with Slovakia.

Tuesday, 15 April 2003 - The Football Association have delayed the sale of tickets for England's qualifier against Slovakia in case they are forced to play the match behind closed doors. The game at the Riverside Stadium takes place on June 11 but a meeting of Uefa's disciplinary panel on May 1 could punish the FA for racist abuse by fans and pitch invasions during England's victory over Turkey. The disciplinary proceedings follow an official complaint from the Turkish FA and their English counterparts have until April 21 to submit their response. Slovakia have already been forced to play a game in an empty stadium as punishment for their supporters racially abusing England players last October.

Wednesday, 16 April 2003 - UEFA have ordered Georgia to play their next home game against Russia behind closed doors after incidents in their defeat by Ireland last month. That signals a similar fate awaiting England when UEFA's disciplinary committee rules next month. With the FA's cash crisis bringing more redundancies yesterday, including Director of Communications Paul Newman, the £2m cost of having no fans at the June 11 game in Middlesbrough would be a savage blow.

Thursday, 1 May 2003 - Gary Neville will miss the final two matches of Manchester United's Premiership campaign and England's Euro 2004 qualifier against Slovakia next month because of injury. The United defender is facing surgery after suffering further "discomfort" from the foot injury which wrecked his chances of appearing in the World Cup finals. The 28-year-old, who has not started a league game for United since the 4-0 win over Liverpool at the beginning of April, will undergo surgery to remove a screw originally inserted into his foot during an operation last summer and will be out for between two and three months.

Wednesday, 7 May 2003 - David Beckham is waiting on Nelson Mandela's arrangements before committing to England's trip to South Africa. The FA is trying to arrange for Eriksson and his squad to meet the statesman and its success in that task is likely to dictate whether Beckham travels to Durban. Beckham is suspended against Slovakia because of the booking he received in the last competitive game, against Turkey.

Monday, 12 May 2003 - 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. Francis Jeffers has been ruled out after failing to recover from a knee ligament injury.

Thursday, 15 May 2003 - Tickets for England's final game of the season, against Slovakia, have sold out in record time. It took fans just 53 minutes to snap up nearly 24,000 tickets, the quickest ever sale, after the hotline opened at 10.00am this morning.

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.
Meanwhile, Everton insist Wayne Rooney may not regain fitness in time for England's qualifier against Slovakia. The 17-year-old has been at the centre of an embarrassing club-versus-country row ever since he suffered a medial knee ligament injury in Everton's home defeat to Manchester United on the final day of the Barclaycard Premiership season.  David Moyes announced after that game that Rooney would not be able to travel to South Africa this week for a friendly, sparking an ongoing row between Everton and the Football Association even after the player had a scan and those results were sent to FA headquarters at Soho Square. Eriksson and the FA seemed to doubt Everton's word that the youngster was unfit to fly for the match in Durban on Thursday.  Rooney - accompanied by Moyes and Everton physio Mick Rathbone - therefore had to report to a Heathrow hotel on Sunday for further checks by England's medical staff before being ruled out of the trip to South Africa. England hope Rooney will be able to meet up with the England squad at their La Manga training camp on Friday but there are still doubts from Goodison Park that he will be fit to travel to Spain.

Thursday, 22 May 2003 - England beat South Africa 2-1 in Durban.
Jamie Carragher has been called into the squad for the games against Serbia & 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 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 & Montenegro and the Euro 2004 qualifier with Slovakia.  But if the Chelsea player misses the June internationals Eriksson now has another defensive option.

Saturday, 24 May 2003 - David Beckham returns to England after fracturing his right scaphoid in the match against South Africa. Beckham was injured after landing awkwardly under a first-half challenge from Thabang Molefe. He continued playing but came off early in the second half and was taken to a hospital for X-rays.

Tuesday, 10 June 2003 - Michael Owen will captain England tonight in his 50th appearance becoming the youngest ever England player to reach that total. The crucial Euro 2004 Qualifier against Slovakia will be Owen's sixth game standing in for regular skipper David Beckham, who is suspended for this game, but will be the first time he leads out his country for a competitive game. Not only will the Liverpool striker take two years off Moore's record, he'll get his half-century on the board three years faster than two other members of the '66 World Cup squad, Bobby Charlton and Jimmy Greaves, and when you compare him to England's two recent 'goal-machines', Owen will reach fifty five years ahead of Alan Shearer and six quicker than Gary Lineker.

England Form: last six games
D L W W W W  f 11:a 7  success: 75%
798	16 October 2002 - England 2 Macedonia FYR 2 [2-2] St Mary's Stadium, Southampton (32,095)	Beckham, Gerrard Sakiri, Trajanov	ECP	HD
		Smith
799	12 February 2003 - England 1 Australia 3 [0-2] Boleyn Ground, Upton Park (34,590)	Jeffers Popovic, Kewell, Emerton	Fr	HL
800	29 March 2003 - Liechtenstein 0 England 2 [0-1] Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz (3,548)	Owen, Beckham	ECP	AW
801	2 April 2003 - England 2 Turkey 0 [0-0] Stadium of Light, Sunderland (47,667)	Vassell, Beckham (pen)		HW
802	22 May 2003 - South Africa 1 England 2 [1-1] ABSA Stadium, Durban (48,000)	McCarthy (pen) Southgate, Heskey	Fr	AW
803	3 June 2003 - England 2 Serbia & Montenegro 1 [1-1] Walkers Stadium, Leicester (30,900)	Gerrard, J.Cole Jestrović		HW

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CG