Sven reveals his England squad and his thoughts on Bowyer & Woodgate
England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has named a reduced squad for the friendly international with Portugal, because of injury concerns, but Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer make the cut and return to the England fold for the first time in three years.
That was when the Leeds duo were originally suspended from international duty, but Woodgate was cleared for selection at the start of the season after serving his sentence for affray. Although was cleared of all legal charges he had been previously picked by Eriksson for 'footballing reasons.
Explaining his reasons for their inclusion this time – along with Elland Road teammates Paul Robinson, Danny Mills and Alan Smith – the England coach has said: "Its very good as now I am a free man to pick whoever I want.
"I agreed not to pick them before the World Cup as I thought there would have been a lot of confusion around the national team and thats not good.'
About Bowyer, Sven added: "If he goes on playing like he is now then he is very interesting. He is doing very well. It would be very bad of me to judge a player without knowing him or having him in the squad.
"Im not just talking about Lee Bowyer but, in general, you can always change. If you have done something stupid in your life, it doesnt mean that you will necessarily do stupid things all your life. If someone has served his punishment, you cant go on punishing them all their lives.
"It would have been very difficult for me to take them to the World Cup, it would have created a lot of problems. In terms of quality the squad would have perhaps benefited but with the attention they would have got, England would have been worse off.'
THE ENGLAND SQUAD
Goalkeepers:
James (West Ham) and Robinson (Leeds).
Defenders:
Mills (Leeds), Ashley Cole (Arsenal), Bridge (Southampton), Ferdinand (Man Utd), Southgate (Middlesbrough) and Woodgate (Leeds).
Midfielders:
Beckham (Man Utd), Butt (Man Utd), Dyer (Newcastle), Sinclair (West Ham), Murphy (Liverpool), Gerrard (Liverpool), Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Bowyer (Leeds) and J Cole (West Ham).
Strikers:
Owen (Liverpool), Heskey (Liverpool) and Smith (Leeds).
