The illusion that England's tour of The USA has any relevance has been firmly dispelled by the exclusion of two further major stars from Sven Goran Ericsson's squad for the trip later this month.

Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney join Liverpool's Steven Gerrard and on-form Jamie Carragher, along with Chelsea's Football Writers player of the year Frank Lampard, and PFA Player of the year John Terry, as absentees, due to either club commitments, or injury. Additionally, David Beckham and Michael Owen will both definitely miss the first match, due to Real Madrid's involvement in La Liga, at the climax of their season.

Injuries and the possibility of suspensions would call into question the wisdom of selecting the more established England players, who will be certainties to play in the finals anyway, and utilise future prospects up front, namely Andrew Johnson, Peter Crouch and Alan Smith, an as yet untested strike force, this mini-tournament.

In the midfield, Mr Eriksson is provided with a cornucopia of talent and diversity, on offer, is probably one of the most astounding collections of young players ever available to an England manager. Shaun Wright-Phillips has excelled for Manchester City this season however, even he will only be released should his club consider him fit to play, such is the pressure on most Premiership managers, that they are reluctant to release their players for what some see as a meaningless series of games.

Jose Mourinhio is probably one of the few managers who are happy to have players involved, having the luxury of a large squad of back up players; it serves his interest to see some of his younger players, namely Joe Cole and Glen Johnson feature in the English squad. Steve McLaren is another who is happy to have one of his brightest young prospects involved, Stuart Downing who starred in the early part of the season but suffered a lack of form towards the end, will happily be included, although West Bromwich's Greening might have been considered a better option.

The 22-man squad is as listed below; however, we envisage further withdrawals prior to the event.

Goal Keepers:

James,Green,Carson

Defenders:

Neville (G), Neville (P), Cole (A), Cambell, Brown, Upson, Johnson (G)

Midfield:

Beckham(Capt), Jenas,Hargreaves,Cole (J), Carrick, Downing, Wright-Phillips

Strikers:
Owen, Smith, Defoe, Johnson (A), Crouch

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