ANTON ROGAN was yesterday recalled to the Northern Ireland squad for Saturday's crunch World Cup qualifying match against Germany in Nuremberg.

The 30 year old Millwall defender hasn't represented his country since Bryan Hamilton took over the managerial reins from Billy Bingham in 1994. He won the last of his 17 caps when he came on as a substitute against Lithuania in April 1992.

Rogan must have thought his days on the big stage really had come to an end when he failed to break into Hamilton's plans for the first two Group Nine outings earlier this season.

However, the international door reopened for Rogan when West Ham full back Keith Rowland dropped out with a septic throat.

Hamilton has no doubt been impressed by Rogan's excellent club form. Despite being a defender, the former Distillery, Celtic, Sunderland and Oxford man is top scorer at Millwall with seven goals in 13 matches, which has helped the club to the top of division two.

However, he faces a fight to win Rowland's place in the Irish starting line up.

The West Ham left back played in the 1-0 defeat by Ukraine and the 1-1 draw with Armenia, but experienced campaigner Nigel Worthington is expected to step back up after being forced on to the sidelines by Rowland's emergence.

. Parma midfielder Gianfranco Zola, commenting on media reports of an imminent move to Chelsea, said yesterday he had problems with his Italian club but denied he had been in contact with English teams.

However, he did not rule out a move. "I have problems with Parma but I hope to resolve them," the 30 year old Sardinian said. "If I can't resolve them then who knows?"

The daily Corriere dello Sport earlier reported, under a headline "Zola is leaving", that Chelsea had offered 13 billion lire (around £4.74 million) to secure Zola.