…it’s a good job he’s so young and sprightly, he’ll easily handle two games in 4 days. John O’Shea and Liam Miller join him in the squad. Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Kieran Richardson have all been called up for England’s squad to face Wales and Northern Ireland; Gary Neville is injured and Alan Smith has been mysteriously overlooked.
Ryan Giggs is the Welsh squad for the England and Poland, while Darren Fletcher has been called up to help Scotland face Italy and Norway. Gabriel Heinze has been included in the Argentine squad that will take on Paraguay; Tim Howard is in the US squad as they play qualifiers against Mexico and Guatemala.
Ruud van Nistelrooy and Edwin van der Sar were named in the Dutch squad to face Armenia and Andorra, and finally Cristiano Ronaldo is in the Portuguese squad that will play Luxembourg and Russia.