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Carrick admits England woe

06/10/2005

Michael Carrick has revealed how disappointed he is not to be included in England's upcoming World Cup qualifiers due to injury.

The Tottenham midfielder has been tipped as future England stalwart and many observers felt that he would be included in coach Sven-Goran Eriksson's squad for the crucial group six clashes with Austria and Poland.

But an injury to Carrick meant that Eriksson instead opted to draft Manchester United striker Alan Smith into his squad as a midfield player, leaving the 24-year-old understandably disappointed.

The former West Ham player was hoping to have recovered from the ankle injury he suffered during the Carling Cup defeat by Grimsby last month in time to face Charlton last weekend.

But his failure to do so ensured he was not in contention to be named in Eriksson's squad and also meant he missed Spurs' impressive 3-2 win against the Premiership's second-placed team.

"It was a bit of a double-whammy really," he admitted.

"I was hoping to be fit for Charlton but I wasn't ready for that and therefore I was out of England as well.

"It's very frustrating, especially as these are the games that will hopefully get us into the World Cup finals. That is the place to play and it's a big year for a lot of players trying to get into the squad."

England play Austria at Old Trafford on Saturday and Poland four days later at the same venue. They need to win both games to guarantee automatic qualification for the World Cup finals in Germany next year and avoid the need for a play-off.

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