Desailly fit but others fall by wayside

There was mixed news for France today ahead of their forthcoming EURO 2004™ qualifying matches while Spain's forward woes continued.

Desailly delight
France coach Jacques Santini has seen AJ Auxerre forward Olivier Kapo withdraw from his squad but was cheered by captain Marcel Desailly declaring himself fit for Saturday's home match against Slovenia before the visit to Malta next Wednesday.

No problems
Desailly has been troubled by a calf injury to his right leg and there had been concern he would not be able to join up with the rest of the squad tomorrow. However, he played the full 90 minutes against Liverpool FC yesterday in the English Premiership with no complications. Kapo suffered a similar injury last week but failed to play against AS Monaco in Ligue 1 yesterday.

'Told to rest'
"He was told to rest for the next two or three weeks," Auxerre coach Guy Roux said. "He will go to Clairefontaine [the French training base] just to say hello to his friends and he will come back." Kapo played the last eleven minutes of France's 2-1 victory against Cyprus last month.

Striker out
Spanish forward Raúl Tamudo was injured in RCD Espanyol's 2-0 defeat by RCD Mallorca yesterday and is a major doubt for the forthcoming qualifier against Northern Ireland and next week's friendly with Paraguay. Despite already being without Raúl González and Fernando Morientes, Spain coach Iñaki Sáez has decided not to call up a replacement.

Thompson chance
Elsewhere, England coach Sven-Göran Eriksson has been forced to replace injured West Ham United FC midfield player Trevor Sinclair in his squad for the matches against Slovakia and F.Y.R. Macedonia. Blackburn Rovers FC's David Thompson, a recent recruit from Coventry City FC, has been called up instead. "David has been impressive over the last few weeks and I have seen him play on a couple of occasions," Eriksson said. "I am now looking forward to working with him for these two important games."

Bak problem
Poland have also been forced into a squad change before meeting Latvia on Saturday. Coach Zbigniew Boniek has lost RC Lens defender, and national captain, Jacek Bak because of a back injury. He has called up FK Austria Wien defender Krzysztof Ratajczyk as a replacement. "It is a great pity we cannot play Bak," said Boniek

Dislocated elbow
Denmark coach Morten Olsen has had little luck in preparing for Saturday's home meeting with Luxembourg. Aalborg BK goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen has been drafted in after first-choice Thomas Sørensen suffered a dislocated elbow in Sunderland AFC's 3-1 defeat by Arsenal in the English Premiership. FC Midtjylland keeper Peter Skov-Jensen will start the Group 2 clash with Nielsen on the substitutes' bench. The news came after AC Milan defender Thomas Helveg had pulled out with his shoulder injury.

Doubtful duo
Norway duo Ronny Johnsen and Øyvind Leonhardsen, both with English club Aston Villa FC, are also doubtful for the qualifiers against Romania and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Johnsen has a thigh injury while Leonhardsen has achilles problems.

Russia replacement
Other players out of the forthcoming action are Scotland's Dominic Matteo (knee) and Bosnia-Herzegovina's Sergei Barbarez (foot) while Russia have called up PFC CSKA Moskva defender Denis Evsikov to replace injured team-mate Alexei Berezutsky and Northern Ireland have brought Grant McCann of West Ham United FC in to replace injured defender Mark Williams. Switzerland's Stéphane Henchoz has been ruled out with a calf injury and has been replaced by Massimo Lombardo.