Football: Hungary friendly defended by FA

THE FOOTBALL Association has defended its decision not to call off next week's England friendly in Hungary.

Kevin Keegan, England's coach, names his squad today for a match with virtually nobody wants, with a host of Premiership managers having expressed their disquiet.

Keegan, who would seem to have his own reservations, was not responsible for organising the fixture. That was down to the former national coach, Glenn Hoddle, who decided late last year that it would be the ideal preparation for the Euro 2000 qualifier in Bulgaria early in June, given that a string of previous friendlies had been held at Wembley.

Hoddle could not have known at the time that question marks would later be raised over the security aspect of flying an England squad to a venue about 200 miles away from Hungary's border with Yugoslavia, given the current crisis in Kosovo.

However, the main opposition has come from Premiership managers such as Arsene Wenger, George Graham and Ruud Gullit, who are all unhapppy at the timing of the match so near to the end of the domestic season, when players need a rest.

However, the FA has pointed out that this is hardly the first time that a friendly has been organised in April - citing the examples of games against Russia in 1992, Croatia in 1996 and Portugal last year.

David Davies, the FA's interim executive director, said: "There is no international date in May this year, as there usually is, as the cup final is a week later."

Games have been called off in the past, with a fixture against Germany on the anniversary of Hitler's birthday in 1994 scrapped due to security concerns, and matches against Croatia and Yugoslavia stopped for political reasons. But it would seem there is no question of a similar decision being taken with respect to next Wednesday's friendly - barring a massive and unforeseen escalation of the Balkans crisis in the meantime.

Davies said: "When we have an obligation to play an international game, we don't welsh on our obligations lightly. Indeed, when we pulled out of games in the past, we didn't do so without a lot of soul-searching first. In this case, we have been in regular contact with the Foreign Office and their advice is that there is no reason not to travel to Hungary.

"We feel that we have an obligation to the fans, both those who are travelling from England as well as the Hungarian supporters who have bought tickets."

Keegan, meanwhile, has a squad to pick. Despite previous speculation to the contrary, the England coach has stated that he will call on the services of players from the title-chasers, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea. It does seem, however, that he has come to a working arrangement with the likes of Alex Ferguson and Wenger.

Davies said: "The squad is a matter for Kevin. I know he's been talking to various managers and I'm sure there will be some give and take." It could mean the sort of deal whereby Keegan calls up Andy Cole, whose partnership with Alan Shearer must be given more time to work, and maybe also Phil Neville, but leaves David Beckham at home to rest.

Such an agreement may mean that David Seaman and Tony Adams are not asked to strain their respective shoulder and back injuries by flying to Hungary, but Ray Parlour and Martin Keown are given extra international experience.

Keegan may also turn to promising younger players ready to be promoted from the successful Under-21 side. The likes of Frank Lampard, Lee Bowyer, Lee Hendrie, Michael Ball, Richard Wright and Emile Heskey would surely benefit from the trip, even if they did not play. Indeed, Heskey is almost certain to travel, given the dearth of fit, top-class, in-form strikers available to England at the moment.

Just a year ago, it was impossible for Cole or Chris Sutton to make the squad as Shearer, Michael Owen, Ian Wright, Dion Dublin, Paul Merson and Robbie Fowler barred their path. Now Sutton, Owen, Wright and Fowler are all out injured, Dublin is only half-fit and Merson's unfortunate personal problems have returned to haunt him.

Chris Armstrong was the late call-up to the squad for last month's Euro 2000 qualifier against Poland but the options are otherwise limited to Darren Huckerby, Les Ferdinand or Kevin Phillips of Sunderland.

However, Teddy Sheringham is available and following, his impressive recall to the United side, he may be one of a core group of more experienced players to whom Keegan could turn.