West Ham left-back Paul Konchesky gets a chance to break into the World Cup squad. Konchesky's consistent performances for his club have helped the Hammers get off to an impressive start on their return to the top flight and the former Charlton defender, who has played frequently for the England Under-21 team, has broken into the senior squad for the second time since playing in the disastrous 3-1 home defeat to Australia in February 2003. Tottenham's Michael Carrick was also included after some impressive games for his club. "It's a test for us," Eriksson said of the game against Argentina.
"We are meeting one of the best teams in the world in a friendly game It will be a beautiful friendly game But we are not going to treat it as a friendly We are going to take it very seriously. Argentina teams are physically very strong but with a lot of technique as well and a lot of great quality players." Eriksson will put his faith once again in Peter Crouch on Saturday, and has asked England's supporters not to boo the striker after the reception he was given against Poland last month. The Manchester City goalkeeper had been left out after a series of poor performances, including England's 4-1 loss to Denmark in a friendly in August. Eriksson has also included the Chelsea left-back Wayne Bridge, although he has only recently returned to competitive football after a double break of his left ankle in February. An injury to back-up goalkeeper Chris Kirkland has given David James a chance to return to the squad. However, Eriksson received news that Woodgate had limped off after just 23 minutes of Madrid's 1-0 league win against Real Zaragoza. England face Argentina in Geneva, but Eriksson is unable to field his strongest squad because of injuries to Gary Neville, Owen Hargreaves, Kieron Dyer and Ashley Cole. Jamie Carragher was also injured in Liverpool's 2-0 victory at Aston Villa on Saturday and is ruled out.
The injury-plagued Woodgate, who spent 18 months on the sidelines after repeated surgery on his left thigh muscle, was expected to be named in Sven Goran Eriksson's squad for Saturday's friendly against Argentina. Real Madrid defender Jonathan Woodgate lost a chance to break into England's World Cup squad when he picked up a hamstring injury playing for Real Madrid last night. "[But] Brett is the bowler he is because of his pace."Among his five wickets, opener Devon Smith and wicket-keeper Denesh Ramdin edged catches to slip and keeper while Ramnaresh Sarwan also fended a bouncer to Adam Gilchrist But the key wickets went to Bracken. Brian Lara was neatly taken low down in the gully and the captain, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, ruled leg before. With a lengthy tail of four "rabbit" fast bowlers, the end came rapidly; the last eight wickets tumbled for 44 runs.The contest was even only on the opening day when Australia were 294 for seven following a middle-order wobble After that they became increasingly merciless. It is a pattern unlikely to change for the remaining Tests in Hobart on 17-21 November and Adelaide on 25-29 November.Scoreboard from the GabbaWest Indies won tossAustralia - First innings: 435 (R T Ponting 149)West Indies - First innings(Overnight Friday: 182-6)? Ramdin not out 37D B Powell c Gilchrist b Warne 4F H Edwards b Warne 2C D Collymore c Clarke b Warne 0J J C Lawson lbw b Warne 0Extras (lb7 w1 nb3) 11Total (77 overs) 210Fall (cont): 7-187 8-204 9-210Bowling: McGrath 22-3-72-4, Lee 15-4-59-1, Bracken 10-4-23-0, Warne 28-9-48-5, Clarke 2-1-1-0.Australia - Second InningsM E K Hussey c Collymore b Gayle 29M L Hayden c Sarwan b Gayle 118*R T Ponting not out 104M J Clarke not out 14Extras (b6 lb3 w1 nb8) 18Total (for 2 dec, 66 overs) 283Fall: 1-71 2-258Did not bat: S M Katich, ? C Gilchrist, S R Watson, S K Warne, N W Bracken, G D McGrath.Bowling: Edwards 5-0-27-0, DB Powell 5-1-24-0, Lawson 6-0-47-0, Collymore 11-0-56-0, Gayle 27-4-74-2, Samuels 12-1-46-0.West Indies - Second InningsC H Gayle c Warne b Watson 33D S Smith c Warne b Lee 3R R Sarwan c Gilchrist b Lee 31B C Lara c Hayden b Bracken 14*S Chanderpaul lbw b Bracken 7M N Samuels not out 17? Ramdin c Gilchrist b Lee 6D B Powell lbw b Bracken 0F H Edwards b Bracken 0C D Collymore lbw b Lee 4J J C Lawson b Lee 1Extras lb3 nb10 13Total (49 overs) 129Fall: 1-11 2-53 3-85 4-99 5-99 6-105 7-106 8-106 9-114.Bowling: McGrath 11-3-22-0; Lee 14-4-30-5; Watson 6-0-25-1; Bracken 16-3-48-4; Warne 2-1-1-0.Umpires: IL Howell & RE Koertzen (SA).. "He wanted to try to be a bit more economical which meant he could probably drop his pace and concentrate on line and length," the captain said.