England v Trinidad and Tobago win could be erased
5th June, 2008
Four England players could lose their first full caps after Fifa announced that it wasn’t happy with the number of substitutions made in the England v Trinidad and Tobago friendly last week.
Fifa could choose to downgrade the match from a full international after England made seven substitutions in the game, for which the Football Association thought it had pre-agreed a special dispensation for the game.
Dean Ashton of West Ham started the game, whilst Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart, Everton defender Phil Jagielka and Blackburn full-back Stephen Warnock all came off the bench – all of whom could lose their first caps. New England boss Fabio Capello made four changes at half time, and then three more in the second half.
A spokesman from Fifa said: "We can confirm that Fifa did not give special dispensation to make up to seven substitutions at the Trinidad and Tobago versus England match. We have spoken internally at Fifa about the matter and nobody allowed this to happen."
An FA spokesman also commented: "The fact of the matter is the opportunity to use seven substitutes was cleared in advance of the game by Fifa, Trinidad and Tobago representative Jack Warner, the Fifa delegate for the game and the match referee. Trinidad had the same option to use seven subs. There is no way we would have gone ahead with using seven subs without the approval that we were given."
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By Chris M
