Litmanen ruled out of Italy test

Muurinen disappointment
After training with his club AFC Ajax today it was confirmed that the 32-year-old forward's injured foot had not recovered well enough for him to be considered for selection. Finland head coach Antti Muurinen was understandably disappointed. "We wished and hoped, but it can't be helped," he said. "These things happen in football and we will just have to do without Jari." The absence of Litmanen means that Liverpool FC centre-back Sami Hyypiä will captain Finland on Saturday.

Pires woe
Meanwhile, holders France are "certain to be without Robert Pires for their qualifying match against Malta on Saturday due to an ankle injury. The Arsenal FC midfield player sustained the injury during his club's 3-1 FA Cup quarter-final win at Chelsea FC on Tuesday night. He is also doubtful for France's game against Israel in Palermo next Wednesday. "We will wait and see how his injury evolves but if he doesn't feel better on Saturday we will call up someone else for the next week's match," said coach Jacques Santini who has also named Real Madrid CF playmaker Zinedine Zidane as his captain for the two fixtures in the absence of the injured Marcel Desailly. "Zidane can communicate with his team-mates," Santini said. "He has an authority in the squad and he respects his team-mates who in turn respect him."

Campbell out
England defender Sol Campbell has been ruled out of the trip to Liechtenstein for Saturday's Group 7 game. Campbell, who played two club games in 48 hours at the start of the week despite an achilles injury, failed a fitness test today. However, the Londoner will join up with the squad when they return to England for Wednesday's showdown with Turkey in Sunderland.

No replacement for Van der Meyde
Meanwhile, Netherlands coach Dick Advocaat has decided against replacing Andy van der Meyde for the Group 3 games at home to the Czech Republic and away in Moldova. The AFC Ajax winger withdrew from the squad with a thigh injury and it was anticipated that Advocaat would call up FC Barcelona's Marc Overmars in his place after he was surprisingly left out of the squad when it was named on Monday.

'Better option'
However, Advocaat elected not to name a replacement for Van der Meyde, saying: "Of course we looked at Overmars. He scored two nice goals on Sunday but for the rest of the match he wasn't really visible. We thought that Van der Meyde was a better option for the position, that's all. Naturally Overmars is angry and disappointed, I would be in the same mood if I were him. But even without Van der Meyde we still have 20 players, and that seems enough to me."

Ehmann injury
Elsewhere in Group 3, Austria defender Anton Ehmann suffered a head injury early in the second half of last night's 2-2 friendly international draw against Greece and was subsequently taken to hospital. Ehmann is now definitely out of next Wednesday's game against the Czech Republic.

Welsh withdrawals
Wales midfield player Jason Koumas has withdrawn from the squad for this weekend's Group 9 game with Azerbaijan after suffering a bereavement, while left-back Darren Barnard has also withdrawn with a shoulder injury. Finally, new Lithuania coach Algimantas Liubinskas has been forced to make several late changes to his squad for Saturday's game with Germany. Striker Robertas Poskus and defender Andrius Skerla have both withdrawn with injury, while Aurelijus Skarbalius pulled out for personal reasons.

Click here for yesterday's EURO 2004™ injury news