Sport

Eriksson forced into a changing of the guard

England v Italy Friendlies against Italy tend to be as combative as trooping the colour

By David Lacey
Wed Mar 27 2002 - 00:00

England v ItalyFriendlies against Italy tend to be as combative as trooping the colour. The bayonets may gleam and the boots may shine but any blood spilt will be purely accidental. And in a World Cup year the Italians are particularly good at keeping their powder dry.

Yet for England, tonight's warm-up game at Elland Road will be more a matter of changing the guard. The loss of Paul Scholes yesterday, coming on top of Steven Gerrard's withdrawal at the weekend, means that Sven-Goran Eriksson will have to operate with a makeshift central midfield in addition to the defensive reshuffle forced on him by Rio Ferdinand's knee injury and Sol Campbell's limited availability after a dead leg.

The situation will doubtless be repeated when England play Paraguay at Anfield in three weeks. Too many of Eriksson's squad are involved in too much at club level for the slightest risk to be taken with their fitness, and once Scholes had reported a calf strain he was as good as out.

There was a further worry yesterday when David Beckham pulled out of training with a bruised foot. But a Football Association spokesman said England's captain was expected to play.

READ MORE

It would be wrong, however, to write off tonight's match as a waste of time. Italy will be the best opposition England meet before the World Cup, so what better moment for some of the possibles for the World Cup squad to promote themselves to probables?

Owen Hargreaves, the Canadian-born, part-Welsh, England-qualified Bayern Munich midfielder comes into this category. Eriksson drops selection hints as freely as he might let go a bottle of nitro-glycerine, but he is clearly keen to have another look at Hargreaves, whose one half-appearance against Holland at Tottenham last August saw him isolated on the left flank.

A midfield pairing of, say, Hargreaves and Nicky Butt might be irrelevant to what Eriksson would hope to field against Sweden in Japan, but given Gerrard's susceptibility to strains England are in urgent need of firm options.

Almost as much applies to the centre-back positions, except that here the concern is less about who might be injured than doubts that Rio Ferdinand and Campbell are the ideal combination. Gareth Southgate will replace Ferdinand tonight, so Eriksson should get a better idea of how strong, or how weak, his defences are.

Up front, Michael Owen could be reunited with Robbie Fowler, with Emile Heskey on the left.

ENGLAND (possible, 4-4-2): Martyn (Leeds Utd); G Neville (Man Utd), Southgate (Middlesbrough), Campbell (Arsenal), Bridge (Southampton); Beckham (Man Utd), Butt (Man Utd), Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Heskey (Liverpool); Owen (Liverpool), Fowler (Leeds Utd).

ITALY (probable, 4-4-2): Buffon (Juventus); Cannavaro (Parma), Nesta (Lazio), Materazzi (Internazionale), Panucci (Roma); Zambrotta (Juventus), Di Biagio (Internazionale), C Zanetti (Internazionale), Doni (Atalanta); Totti (Roma), Vieri (Internazionale).

Referee: H Fandel (Germany).

• Live on Sky Sports 2, kick-off 8.0