England turn to novices to shore up Euro 2004 defence

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2004

LONDON (AFP) — England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson turned to Liverpool's Jamie Carragher and Tottenham's Ledley King to shore up his side's defence when he announced his provisional squad for the Euro 2004 finals in Portugal.

Eriksson overlooked the defensive claims of Gareth Southgate even though the experienced Middlesbrough man insisted he could recover from injury in time.

Also omitted were Manchester United's Wes Brown and Southgate's Boro team-mate Ugo Ehiogu.

Southgate had the minor consolation of being placed on standby along with Birmingham's Matthew Upson.

Four other players have also been left with an outside chance of making it into the final squad, due to be named on June 2, including Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe.

Eriksson kept...