London, Dec 19: June 13 is already a red letter date in the Euro 2004 calendar as France were drawn to meet England at the rebuilt Stadium of Light in Lisbon.
England made Wayne Rooney their youngest cap at the age of 17 years and 111 days as Eriksson succeeded in freshening his team.
However qualification for Portugal boiled down to a tense final match in Istanbul, preceded by a threatened players' strike over the dropping of Ferdinand for missing a drugs test.
David Beckham lost his footing taking a penalty which ballooned over the bar, but held his team together to earn the draw they needed.
After being pictured entering the London home of Chelsea's super-rich new owner Roman Abramovich, Eriksson was asked virtually daily whether he would be taking over at the premiership club. The Swede's failure to give a flat denial suggested he might not be in charge of England by the 2006 World Cup.



Italy had an early scare in Euro 2004 qualifying when Wales beat them 2-1 in Cardiff. Coach Giovanni Trapattoni stood firm, saying he had never walked away from a crisis in his life and he steadied the ship to ease the Azzurri into the finals.



Wales on the other hand had their chance of reaching their first international finals since 1958 crushed by Russia in the playoffs.



Scotland's hopes were raised by a 1-0 win in the first leg of their playoff against Holland before they were thrashed 6-0 in Amsterdam.


Bureau Report