England prepare with Portugal

England will return to action for the first time since the FIFA World Cup finals with a friendly international against Portugal at Villa Park on 7 September.

EURO 2004™ qualifying
The Football Association (FA) today confirmed that the Portuguese will provide Sven-Göran Eriksson's side with their only outing before back-to-back UEFA European Championship qualifiers against Slovakia and F.Y.R Macedonia in October.

Second match
It will be the second time Villa have hosted an England game under Eriksson's management having staged his first match in charge, the 3-0 win against Spain in February last year.

'Fantastic support'
Paul Barber, the FA's director of marketing and communications, said: "We are delighted to be returning to Villa Park for this match against Portugal. The club has provided fantastic support for a number of other FA matches, including the FA Trophy final, the FA Vase final and the FA Youth Cup final."

World Cup campaigns
England were eliminated by eventual winners Brazil at the quarter-final stage of the World Cup, while Portugal, who are currently without a coach, failed to negotiate the group stages after being tipped as a potential victor in Korea/Japan. Portugal will host EURO 2004™.