UNITED KINGDOM/FILE: FOOTBALL/SOOCER - England manager Steve McClaren confident the qualification for Euro 2008 is in their hands

In spite of numerous injuries England manager Steve McClaren says he is confident his team can qualify for Euro 2008 and asks fans for their help. Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard looks almost certain to miss England's Euro 2008 qualifiers against Israel and Russia after tearing his left thigh muscle in training on Friday (August 31). Just hours after he was named in Steve McClaren's squad for the Group E matches at Wembley on September 8 and four days later, Chelsea said a hospital scan had shown up the injury suffered by the 29-year-old midfielder. Unless he makes an astonishingly fast recovery, Lampard, who has scored in his last four matches, including England's goal in their 2-1 friendly defeat by Germany last week, will join a long line of walking wounded who are missing from the England squad. England head into their first competitive matches at the new Wembley needing to win both of them to keep alive their chances of reaching next year's finals in Austria and Switzerland. They are currently fourth in the group, three points behind joint leaders Croatia and Israel. "We have got five games to go and four of them are at home and we are confident our qualification is in our own hands. We know what we have to do. We all want one thing -- to be in that tournament next summer," said McClaren. Despite Beckham's injury, which means he cannot add to his 97 caps for now, McClaren denied newspaper reports his England career could be over. "It's a big blow for us, he is a big player and we are coming up to big games and we need big players in big games. How he recovers we will assess over the next few weeks." David Beckham and Kieron Dyer, who were both injured this week, are out of the games along with Gary Neville, Ledley King and possibly Steven Gerrard, although the Liverpool skipper has a reasonable chance of playing. Gerrard, who missed the friendly against Germany, is included in the squad despite suffering with a hairline fracture of a toe. He is unlikely to play in Liverpool's match against Derby County in the Premier League on Saturday (September 1). McClaren told a news conference in Yarm: "I have been liaising closely with Liverpool and I fully expect him to be available to us over the next two weeks." While McClaren was having to consider his options without Lampard, he earlier named uncapped youngsters David Bentley, 23 and Ashley Young, 22, in his squad. With Rooney injured and Peter Crouch suspended for the Israel match, Michael Owen, Alan Smith, Andrew Johnson and Jermain Defoe are McClaren's attacking options. Owen scored his first goal for Newcastle United for 20 months this week and is slowly approaching full fitness after two injury-hit seasons. England have played Israel three times before but never at home while this will be their first meeting with Russia as an independent country. "We normally produce in big games, we normally win the big games and we need to do it again," said McClaren. England squad: Goalkeepers: Paul Robinson (Tottenham Hotspur), David James (Portsmouth), Scott Carson (Aston Villa) Defenders: Micah Richards (Manchester City), Wes Brown (Manchester United), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), John Terry (Chelsea), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Sol Campbell (Portsmouth), Phil Neville (Everton), Nicky Shorey (Reading), Midfielders: David Bentley (Blackburn Rovers), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Chelsea), Michael Carrick (Mancheter United), Gareth Barry (Aston Villa) Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough), Owen Hargreaves (Manchester United) Forwards: Ashley Young (Aston Villa), Alan Smith (Newcastle United), Michael Owen (Newcastle United), Peter Crouch (Liverpool), Andrew Johnson (Everton), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur).

ITN Source | September 1, 2007

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