Ten years and a footballing lifetime separate the two men who will be called upon to provide England with a central defence in tonight's friendly match against Portugal, the first of four such fixtures before England return to the western flank of the Iberian peninsula for the finals of Euro 2004.
On learning that John Terry had made a late withdrawal from the squad shortly before their departure from London, as a result of the leg injury suffered in Chelsea's FA Cup match on Sunday, Sven-Goran Eriksson intimated that Gareth Southgate will be marking his return to the team by inaugurating a partnership with Ledley King of Tottenham Hotspur.
The duo of Southgate, 33, and King, 23, would not even be England's third-choice pairing. But in the absence of Rio Ferdinand, Sol Campbell, Jonathan Woodgate and Matthew Upson, as well as that of Terry, Eriksson has been forced into the position of making a virtue of necessity.
He is adamant these matches are valuable because they give him 45 minutes to look at his best line-up, and another 45 to assess the claims of outsiders. Today he will issue a team sheet including a sixth-choice centre back who has spent the season playing as Tottenham's defensive midfielder. Eriksson will be hoping that King's international experience with the under-21 side will provide him with the confidence to confront some of Europe's most skilful and dangerous forwards.
"The partnership will be completely new," Eriksson said, reflecting on the fact that in any event Ferdinand's suspension obliges him to find a new combination. "I hope to have all of them available for the next match in Sweden and the two games after that, apart from Ferdinand, of course. And if they are all there, I have some ideas about what to do."
Once again, however, tonight's result will be of less significance to Eriksson than the manner of the performance, individual and collective. Having lost their last friendly, at home to Denmark, however, England will be hoping to come out of the match with some sort of boost to their morale.
Eriksson said last night he hopes Sepp Blatter, the president of FIFA, will change his mind about a decision to restrict coaches to the use of a maximum of five substitutes in friendly matches, due to be announced next week.
There will be at least five second-half substitutions tonight, and possibly up to 10, which will inevitably reduce the competitive significance of the evening. England's coach, however, is unapologetic.
"Some of these players have played three matches in the last week," he said, "and some of them will be playing again on Saturday lunchtime. In the Premier League in January and February there are so many matches that the players can't even practise. They warm up and warm down, and that's it. It's not good for football."
Portugal are coached by Felipe Scolari, who was in charge of Brazil when they inflicted the only defeat suffered by Eriksson's England in a competitive fixture during the three years of the Swede's tenure. That, of course, was in a World Cup quarter-final.
"You need super-fit players if you want to beat Brazil," Eriksson mused, having been drawn into a discussion of that painful night in Shizuoka. England had erred, he said, in playing "too optimistically" in the period before half-time, when they conceded an equaliser. "I should have told them to stay in their positions, I did tell them, but unfortunately it was too late."
David Beckham received treatment before departure yesterday morning but was declared fit to play by his manager, who feels that he has no need to give him a run in the central midfield position that the captain favours. "I see him playing there every Saturday or Sunday on television," he said, "and if that's what we need, I'm sure it will not be a problem."
Guardian Service
