Ronaldo and Viana picked to face England

By Gordon Tynan

The Portugal coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, has recalled the Manchester United youngster Cristiano Ronaldo and Newcastle's Hugo Viana to the senior team after they played in two qualifiers for the Under-21 European Championship.

Portugal play England on Wednesday in Faro on the south coast, one of the venues for the senior European Championship, which Portugal are hosting this summer. Scolari, who has completed one year in charge of the Portugal, said that the match against England, together with games against Italy and Sweden, would give "a good measure of what we can do this summer".

Scolari, who steered Brazil to a fifth World Cup title in 2002, added that he had already mentally picked 18 to 20 of the 23 players who will play in the tournament.

The seemingly endless debate over whether Nicolas Anelka should be recalled to the France squad took another twist with Les Bleus' coach, Jacques Santini, accusing the Manchester City striker of damaging his side's bid to win Euro 2004.

Anelka, who has 28 caps, has been ignored since he refused a call-up for a friendly against Yugoslavia in November 2002. Despite hints from the 24-year-old that he may be ready to return, Santini closed the door on him in emphatic fashion as he named his squad for the game with Belgium next week.

Santini made it clear he was in no mood to build bridges with Anelka, saying: "In 18 months, the commitment and flawless solidity of the directors, staff and players have allowed the France team to put their heads above water, win the Confederations Cup and qualify for the European Championship.

"We have also won back the support and trust of our fans. Now all this work is called into question by a doubtful debate around one man - Anelka - who rejected the France team and disrespected the French Football Federation."

In contrast, Anelka's fellow striker, Louis Saha, Manchester United's most recent recruit, will receive his first call-up.

"We have not waited for him to join Manchester United to start monitoring him," Santini said of Saha. "If he had not gone to Manchester we would have probably called him up even though he was playing with Fulham."

Arsenal's record signing, Jose Antonio Reyes, has been left out of Spain's squad for next week's friendly against Peru in Barcelona. Reyes has been overlooked by the Spain coach, Inaki Saez, who has also left out the Real Madrid midfielder Guti and the Deportivo La Coruña defender Cesar.

The United States coach, Bruce Arena, yesterday recalled his captain, Manchester City's Claudio Reyna, to the squad to face the Netherlands on 18 February. Reyna, who is three caps short of his century, missed the 1-1 draw with Denmark in California last month as Arena named mainly home-based players. This time, Arena has called up 11 overseas-based players for their encounter with the Dutch at the Amsterdam Arena.

One of those missing out is Brad Friedel, the Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper, who is vying with Manchester United's Tim Howard and Tottenham Hotspur's Kasey Keller for the US keeper'sjersey.

Paul Ritchie was handed a Scotland recall as Berti Vogts made a number of surprise inclusions in his squad for the friendly with Wales next week.

The in-form Walsall defender, who was last capped against the Netherlands in April 2000, was named in a 23-man party along with the uncapped quartet of the Blackburn striker Paul Gallagher, Wigan midfielder Gary Teale, Ipswich midfielder Tommy Miller and Reading defender Graeme Murty.

The Hibernian defender Gary Caldwell was also included along with the Sunderland striker Kevin Kyle and Leicester forward Paul Dickov, but there was disappointment for the midfielders Gary Holt, of Norwich, and Alex Rae, of Wolves.