Absentees ruin Eriksson's plans

The England coach, Sven Goran Eriksson, could have an unprecedented total of seven players unavailable for disciplinary reasons as he finalises his selection next week of the squad to play a friendly away to the Netherlands on 13 February.

The Football Association's chief executive, Adam Crozier. has confirmed that players serving a domestic suspension will not be considered, which is standard policy for friendly matches, though not competitive ones. That rules out Arsenal's Martin Keown and Liverpool's Jamie Carragher, who were both sent off in the Premiership match between their clubs at Highbury on Sunday, plus Alan Smith and Danny Mills of Leeds. Another Leeds player, Lee Bowyer, faces an FA hearing on Tuesday and could also be banned, and his team-mate Jonathan Woodgate will still be doing community service following his recent conviction for affray. Chelsea's John Terry will miss out on the chance of a first senior appearance because of an impending court case for alleged assault on a night-club doorman.

The implications of missing the game in Amsterdam are least serious for Keown, who has 40 caps and is a known quantity to Eriksson. But for the other players concerned, it is a bad time to lose an opportunity of impressing the coach, with only two more internationals, against Italy and Paraguay before the World Cup squad is finalised.

Bowyer has yet to make his debut, because England, unlike Leeds, declined to pick him or Woodgate while their trial and subsequent re-trial were going on. Smith has slipped down the pecking order of strikers, but Mills was picked out by Eriksson for special commendation after his lively appearance as a substitute in the last international, against Sweden at Old Trafford in November. Carragher played most of the 90 minutes of that game in one of England's problem positions, left-back, after a disappointing performance in midfield at home to the Netherlands in September and is determined to push Arsenal's Ashley Cole for a place in Japan.

With two other centre-halves likely to be missing – Woodgate has, in any case, not yet reproduced his best form and is now injured – Terry would have had a good chance of a first cap.

Terry and Blackburn's David Dunn were in line to be the beneficiaries of his promise to promote at least one player from the Under-21 squad. Dunn is currently injured, like Kieron Dyer of Newcastle, West Ham's Trevor Sinclair – who made his debut against Sweden – and Arsenal's David Seaman. Eriksson will wait until after the Premiership matches tomorrow week before naming his squad to face the Netherlands.