News: The England soccer squad has turned into a stronghold and none of the fringe contenders gathered outside could break down the doors.

Matthew Upson could be admitted today but only because Sol Campbell has withdrawn with a groin strain.

The announcement of the party for Wednesday's friendly with Portugal in Faro was Sven-Goran Eriksson's declaration of contentment. And yet matters are never completely settled in any manager's mind.

The quality of the strikers who are named with the indispensable Michael Owen continue to raise concerns that a lack of firepower may be England's undoing at Euro 2004. Eriksson kept his word by recalling Alan Smith, but he might have done so in any case as he casts around for fresh alternatives in attack.

In the debacle before the game with Denmark, the Leeds forward was first brought in and then sent packing, at the insistence of the Football Association, when it emerged he had been arrested that morning because of the incident when he threw an empty plastic bottle into the Elland Road crowd.

"After what happened I told him that next time he would be in the England squad," said Eriksson. Smith's inclusion springs from more than a debt of honour. The striker carried the battle to Wolves last week and scored in that 4-1 victory.

England need strikers who are coming into form. The records this season of the men Eriksson has chosen to complement Owen could do with radical improvement. Smith, Darius Vassell, Emile Heskey and Wayne Rooney have, together, scored 20 Premiership goals so far. Eriksson's mind is mostly made up about the men he will take to Euro 2004, but if anyone can force him to reconsider, it will be a scorer who hits form.

Jermain Defoe, with goals in each of his two appearances for Tottenham, must have tempted Eriksson and that sort of effectiveness will be irresistible if it is sustained.

The players' rapport with the FA should improve when the next meeting between the parties takes place this evening or tomorrow to discuss the selection-criteria issues raised by the Smith and Rio Ferdinand affairs. It is likely players will be eligible to represent England unless they have been charged with a significant offence. That, however, will require the FA to act with greater dispatch to prevent the delays that developed between Ferdinand's missed drugs test and the bringing of a formal charge.

Eriksson is also trying to create order. He claimed yesterday he had not received any offer of a job from Chelsea, although he also admitted tentative overtures from clubs sometimes had to be repelled.

However, his stated delight with the England post has not yet led him to accept an extension that would stretch his contract until 2008. Eriksson will not take a decision until after Euro 2004 but he acts like a man with long-term considerations in mind and he is pleased the Premiership clubs have agreed in principle to introduce a winter break from next season.

Eriksson suggested, too, replays might be removed from the fifth and sixth rounds of the FA Cup. Injuries may give hope of involvement this week to those who were left out of the squad that was named on Saturday. In midfield, however, it might take an epidemic to create vacancies. Despite Steven Gerrard being excused duty because his partner is about to give birth, there was no room for Scott Parker or Alan Thompson.