Football Corner

A few intresting things coming out of the England camp in the last twenty four hours or so. First of all they have qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany already with a game to spare because Holland beat Czech Republic on Saturday. Secondly, Steven Gerrard has been ruled out of the Poland game on Wednesday with a shin injury picked up against Austria on Saturday. Liverpool have said that Gerrard may be sidelined for two to three weeks. Defender Sol Campbell had already been ruled out of the game on Wednesday against Poland with a hamstring injury picked up in the game on Saturday.

Finally The F.A have said today that they do not plan to appeal the red card David Beckham picked up on Saturday. Beckham, who is the first player to be sent off twice for England, received two yellow cards for fouls on Andreas Ibertsberger in the second half. The Football Association's director of football Trevor Brooking told BBC Radio Five Live: "It was a harsh decision. "But the regulations won't allow us an appeal - we'll have to take that one."

A bit of bad news for England but I'm sure they weren't even planning to play Campbell, Gerrard and Beckham for the game on Saturday because all the game means is wheter or not they top the group. Very bad news for Liverpool and Arsenal because they will be missing their skipper's for at least a few weeks. Great news for England that they have qualified for the World Cup in Germany in 2006 with a game to spare, and they are the first England team to do that for twenty years.