Just a thought....

Me, 8 Yanks and an Aussie have tickets for the Memorial weekend friendly match at Soldier Field between USA and England.

The locals were desperate to see a full England team after Man U and Bayern Munich played out a drab 0-0 draw last summer in Chicago. United's team was made up of youngsters and it was a complete disgrace that Sir Alex didn't embrace 60,000 excited Americans willing to learn about the beautiful game.

So it has been a real disappointment to me as I watch players drop out of Sven-Goran Eriksson's squad. 12 players have now pulled out of the game at Soldier Field including the big pulls such as Owen, Beckham, Gerrard, Lampard, Ferdinand and Rooney.

The team including a bean pole, a Judas and the Palace penalty getter will still carry some quality but it the real stars won't be here.

The full squad is as follows:Green (Norwich), Carson (Liverpool), James (Manchester City) Campbell (Arsenal), Upson (Birmingham), Brown (Manchester United), G Neville (Manchester United), A Cole (Arsenal), P Neville (Manchester United), Johnson (Chelsea), Jenas (Newcastle), Downing (Middlesbrough), Beckham (Real Madrid), Carrick (Tottenham), J Cole (Chelsea), Hargreaves (Bayern Munich) Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Smith (Manchester United), Owen (Real Madrid), Crouch (Southampton), A Johnson (Crystal Palace), Defoe (Tottenham).

The American 'roster' is due to be announced next week.