Neville hit by a double whammy

13 April 2012

For Phil Neville, the ring on his mobile phone yesterday triggered like an alarm. For the second time in four years he feared the worst and confirmation came when the calm Swedish voice bore the tidings he least wanted to hear.

The Manchester United defender, selected in every Sven Goran Eriksson squad since he took over 15 months ago, was once again the groom left stranded at the altar. Out of the World Cup by a whisker.

It brought back memories of four years ago, when Glenn Hoddle called him into a suite overlooking the swimming pool at La Manga to tell him he would not be going to France. A double whammy of the worse kind.

Eriksson did not want to elaborate on the telephone calls he made at around 9.30am yesterday, partly because he felt the pain as much as they did. First there was Neville, then Chelsea's valiant Frank Lampard and finally Steve McManaman, whose phone was on message service because he was out training. These three were the ones who had come so close, only to be overlooked.

Others found out the harder way, from radio, television or Teletext. Andy Cole was one - and he immediately announced his retirement from international football, a reaction that maybe confirmed Eriksson had made the right decision there. 'I feel sorry for him, I really do,' said Eriksson. 'Not only for him but for a lot of players. It is never nice for those you phone to say: "Hey, you are not in the squadî.

'It is a part of the job you could live without, but you have to do it. I have to make the choices. I am sorry he decided to retire from international football. But who knows? In life you can always change your mind?'

The England coach was clearly uneasy about the bloodletting which left men like Kevin Phillips, Darren Anderton, Ugo Ehiogu and Trevor Sinclair on the outside. Jamie Carragher, Liverpool's young defender, stays behind to have necessary surgery on his knee, while Danny Murphy has been put on standby.

Eriksson admitted he had not asked those he contacted whether they understood or accepted why they had been omitted. 'That is not the right question to ask them at this stage. I told them how sorry I was but I can only pick 23 and that is it. I feel for all the players who did a great job for us during the qualification and in the friendly game.

'Some of them have had a good season and have been working very hard. I told those I spoke to that these were telephone calls you hope you would never have to make.'

Eriksson and Tord Grip had agonised over their last few choices. As the limousine that carried them from the northwest back to London after the matches at Manchester and Liverpool sped down the M40, they mulled over the options.

Eriksson was home by 1am but spent a restless night and was back behind his desk in Soho Square eight hours later, making the final decisions and writing them on a piece of paper subsequently sold for charity for £5,000 at a Variety Club lunch.

One or two of the missing would have paid that to scrawl their names on the paper, but Eriksson was not about to reveal which players were discarded at what stage. 'This is the squad and I don't want to comment on when I decided on this player or that,' he said. 'I don't think that would be right?'

McManaman left training at Real Madrid without speaking to waiting newsmen. It was left to a World Cup hero, Frenchman Zinedine Zidane, to admit: 'I am very disappointed for him.'

Sinclair was one of the players who learned of his fate from a television screen.

He said: 'It wasn't a massive surprise, to be honest. I gave it everything on and off the pitch, but it just wasn't quite good enough. In the games I played in, I have not quite made the impact I could have, although it is difficult to make that grade - everyone there is a good athlete and all quick in the mind.'

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