Metzelder misses out

Germany defender Christoph Metzelder will miss his country's two upcoming matches and coach Rudi Völler also has doubts over Michael Ballack.

Hamstring injury
Metzelder will return home to Dortmund from Germany's base in Gravenbruch near Frankfurt tonight after a persistent hamstring injury forced him out of the squad to face Bosnia-Herzegovina in friendly on Friday and the Faroe Islands in a EURO 2004™ Group 8 qualifier next Wednesday.

Ballack wait
As for FC Bayern München midfield player Ballack, he is suffering a heavy bout of flu and doctors will wait until the weekend before deciding on his availability.

Juanito in
Spain have called up Real Betis Balompié defender Juanito for the Group 6 game against Northern Ireland after Valencia CF's Carlos Marchena was ruled out because of gastroenteritis. The 26-year-old Betis defender won his first cap in the 1-1 draw with Hungary in August. Meanwhile, Diego Tristán and García Calvo missed training yesterday with abductor problems.

Campbell sick
As with Spain's Marchena, gastroenteritis has ruled defender Sol Campbell out of England's Group 7 match against Slovakia on Saturday, although the Arsenal FC player could be fit to face F.Y.R. Macedonia next Wednesday. Campbell's Arsenal colleague Ashley Cole joined captain David Beckham in sitting out training today.

Shevchenko out
Ukraine will be without Andriy Shevchenko for their Group 6 games against Greece and Northern Ireland after his club side, AC Milan, decided it would be better for the striker not to rush his return from a knee injury. "Milan recommended Shevchenko to stay out of the games for Ukraine," said Ukraine coach Leonid Buryak.

Belgium blow
Belgium coach Aimé Anthuenis will be without Mbo Mpenza and Gaetan Englebert, after the pair were sent back to their clubs today. Mpenza, the R. Excelsior Mouscron forward, is expected to miss the Group 8 matches against Andorra and Estonia, although Engleberet may have recovered from his toe problem in time to face Estonia next Wednesday.

Jankauskas ruled out
Lithuania have lost striker Edgaras Jankauskas and defender Deividas Semberas for their Group 5 matches against the Faroe Islands and Iceland. FC Porto striker Jankauskas has suffered a recurrence of a groin injury, while Semberas, of PFC CSKA Moskva, has a foot problem. Coach Benjaminas Zelkevicius has called up two FK Suduva players, striker Tomas Radzinevicius and midfield player Giedrius Slavickas.

Boniek calls up duo
Poland coach Zbigniew Boniek has called up Legia Warszawa's Lukasz Surma and Krzysztof Ratajczyk of FK Austria Wien following the withdrawals of Jacek Bak and Radoslaw Kaluzny and doubts over Emmanuel Olisadebe.

Chivadze's changes
Meanwhile, Russia coach Valeri Gazzaev has called up FC Zenit St.Petersburg's Andrei Arshavin, CSKA Moskva's Denis Evsikov and Dmitri Sennikov of Lokomotiv Moskva to replace the injured trio of Andrei Kariaka, Vasili Berezoutski and Vyacheslav Daev.

Missing Strand
Vålerenga Fotball's Pa-Modouh Kah has replaced Roar Strand in Norway's squad to face Romania and Bosnia-Herecegovina, while defender Ronny Johnsen missed training today with a hamstring injury. Meanwhile, goalkeeper Alban Beqaj is a doubt for Albania's Group 10 match against Switzerland with an elbow injury.

Simão setback
An ankle injury has caused Simão Sabrosa to withdraw from EURO 2004™ hosts Portugal's squad for the friendlies against Tunisia and Sweden. The uncapped Vitória Setúbal winger Marco Ferreira will take Simão's place, although coach Agostinho Oliveira also has doubts over Luis Figo - who has a ligament problem in his right knee - and Luis Boa Morte.