UNITED KINGDOM: SOCCER/FOOTBALL - England train ahead of Germany game

England's soccer squad trained north of London on Monday (August 20) as they prepared to meet old rivals germnany in a friendly at the new Wembley Stadium on Wednesday (August 22), a which will be missed by many of the two team's first choice players. Owen Hargreaves and Steven Gerrard are both unlikely to play for England. Hargreaves made his debut for Manchester United in the 1-0 defeat at Manchester City on Sunday but manager Alex Ferguson said the former Bayern Munich midfielder was not fit enough to turn out for his country despite his inclusion in the squad. Gerrard, who played for Liverpool in the 1-1 draw with Chelsea on Sunday despite a broken toe, told Sky Sports he does not expect to play against Germany. Portsmouth's Sol Campbell, who was recalled to the squad along with goalkeeper David James, was reported to have pulled out of the squad and watched the training session from the sidelines, although he was in his kit. David Beckham has flown in from the United States to join his team mates and will be hoping to convince coach Steve Mclaren he can be an integral part of his future plans. McLaren dropped Beckham when he took over from Sven Goran Eriksson but recalled the star midfielder in the face of poor Euro 2008 qualifying performances from his side. The squad trained at the London Colney facilities owned by Arsenal and the north London side's coach Arsene Wenger was an interested spectator at the training session, attracting much interest from the press photographers when he had a chat with Beckham. Meanwhile, Germany coach Joachim Loew will be without most of his first choice team after Miroslav Klose and Bastian Schweinsteiger became the latest casualties on Sunday. Sami Khedira, who had been hoping to make his full international debut against England, was also ruled out after suffering a foot injury. Loew later called up David Odonkor of Real Betis and Gonzalo Castro from Bayer Leverkusen to bolster the squad. Loew had already lost captain Michael Ballack, forwards Mario Gomez, Lukas Podolski and Jan Schlaudraff, midfielders Torsten Frings and Tim Borowski, and full-backs Marcell Jansen and Clemens Fritz.

ITN Source | August 21, 2007

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