Smith and Defoe miss out in England squad
Alan Smith and Jermain Defoe missed out on a place in Sven-Goran Eriksson's squad for the Euro 2004 finals as the Swede named his squad today.
Smith and Defoe missed a place as Eriksson went with Aston Villa's Darius Vassell for the fourth slot up front.
He brings three goalkeepers, eight defenders, eight midfielders and four forwards.
Jermain Defoe (Tottenham), Richard Wright (Everton), Matthew Upson (Birmingham), Gareth Southgate (Middlesbrough), Scott Parker (Chelsea), Alan Smith (Leeds) were all put on standby.
As expected, Alan Thompson of Celtic missed out on a place in the squad but he also misses a 'standby' slot.
Eriksson turned to Tottenham’s Ledley King and Liverpool’s Jamie Carragher to solve England’s central defensive problems ahead of the finals.
Eriksson overlooked Gareth Southgate’s claims, even though the Middlesbrough defender was insistent that he could recover from injury in time for the tournament, as well as those of Wes Brown and Ugo Ehiogu.
However, Southgate was placed on standby along with Matthew Upson and four other players – including Jermain Defoe, who will join the England squad for their training camp and warm-up games before the final party is named on June 2.
England goalkeepers selected in provisional squad for Euro 2004: David James (Man City), Paul Robinson (Leeds/Tottenham), Ian Walker (Leicester).
Defenders:Gary Neville (Man Utd), Phil Neville (Man Utd), Ashley Cole (Arsenal), Wayne Bridge (Chelsea), Sol Campbell (Arsenal), John Terry (Chelsea), Ledley King (Tottenham), Jamie Carragher (Liverpool).
Midfielders: David Beckham (Real Madrid), Paul Scholes (Man Utd), Nicky Butt (Man Utd), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Kieron Dyer (Newcastle), Joe Cole (Chelsea).
Forwards: Michael Owen (Liverpool), Emile Heskey (Liverpool), Darius Vassell (Aston Villa), Wayne Rooney (Everton).
