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Thompson gets surprise England call Posted: Monday October 07, 2002 11:03 AMUpdated: Monday October 07, 2002 3:02 PM LONDON (Reuters) -- Uncapped Blackburn Rovers midfielder David Thompson received a surprise call-up to the England squad on Monday after West Ham United's Trevor Sinclair pulled out with a toe injury. Coach Sven-Goran Eriksson turned to Thompson in preference to several other candidates, including Leeds United's Lee Bowyer and Sinclair's West Ham club mate Joe Cole. Both Bowyer and Cole played in the England team who drew 1-1 with Portugal in a friendly on September 7 but Thompson, in fine form for Blackburn this season, will now have the chance to make his debut in Saturday's game against Slovakia in Bratislava. That match, and the encounter with Macedonia in Southampton the following Wednesday, mark the start of England's campaign in group seven which also includes Turkey and Liechtenstein. Commenting on his decision to call up Thompson, Eriksson said on the Football Association's official Web site: "David has been impressive over the last few weeks and I have seen him play on a couple of occasions. "I am now looking forward to working with him for these two important games." Eriksson is due to address reporters at a news conference on Tuesday at England's training base in Bisham Abbey before the squad flies out to Slovakia on Thursday. Thompson has benefited from injuries sustained on Sunday by Liverpool's Danny Murphy and Blackburn club mate David Dunn, who made his England debut against Portugal. Murphy strained his groin in Liverpool's 1-0 win over Chelsea and Dunn is out for two to six weeks after damaging a hamstring in Rovers' 2-1 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur. Ferdinand operation Cole's absence is down to poor form, although he is in the under-21 squad, but the absence of Bowyer, who was impressive in his debut against Portugal, is something of a mystery. A former Liverpool trainee, 25-year-old Thompson joined Blackburn for first division Coventry City in August and has caught the eye with some sparkling displays and three goals in his last six games. Sinclair, a regular squad member under Eriksson, bruised his toe in West Ham's 2-1 home defeat by Birmingham City in the English premier league on Sunday. "Trevor has come out of the squad as he has a badly bruised toe and Sven-Goran Eriksson doesn't want to take anyone abroad who is not fully fit," West Ham manager Glenn Roeder told his club's Web site on Monday. Eriksson is also without Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand for the two qualifiers. The Manchester United defender is to have a knee operation. Hooligans banned from traveling to SlovakiaLONDON (AP) -- More than 1,200 soccer hooligans have been banned from traveling to Slovakia for England's Euro 2004 qualifier this weekend, the British government and police said Monday. Home Office Minister John Denham said the government and police were working closely with officials in Slovakia and other European countries to prevent trouble at Saturday's game in Bratislava. Denhman said 1,209 fans subject to "football banning orders" will be required to surrender their passports to prevent them from traveling to the game. "It is essential that we continue to make consistent and full use of our powerful football legislation to prevent known troublemakers from traveling to international games in the run-up to Euro 2004," he said. Police also said English hooligans will be banned from trying to reach Slovakia from neighboring Austria and the Czech Republic.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
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