The United States qualified for next year’s World Cup on Sunday, Jamaica were left on the brink of clinching a place, while Costa Rica were eliminated despite a heroic draw in Mexico. Hendry was due to travel today, even though he has a knee injury. But he is now staying at home, because his pregnant wife, Denise, slipped a disc on Sunday night.The uncapped Tottenham defender Stephen Carr has been added to the Republic of Ireland squad for the World Cup play-off against Belgium in Brussels on Saturday.Ireland’s manager, Mick McCarthy, called up Carr after injuries ruled out the defenders Denis Irwin (Manchester United) and Curtis Fleming (Middlesbrough). He is now set to win his 40th cap in France.The Blackburn central defender Colin Hendry also misses the trip to France, along with Lambert. Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos and Juninho have been left out because they have already used up, or are close to using up, the quota of five friendlies for which their clubs are obliged to release them in a year.Rangers’ Stuart McCall has been called into Scotland’s squad for the friendly against France in St-Etienne tomorrow.The 33-year-old midfielder replaces Celtic’s new recruit, Paul Lambert, who has been given time off following his move to Parkhead from Borussia Dortmund last week.McCall has made a full recovery from a serious knee injury that saw him play only seven League matches last season. All three were late withdrawals, while Everton’s veteran goalkeeper, Neville Southall, and Bristol City’s Rob Edwards also pulled out after Saturday’s matches.
Ryan Giggs, who captained Wales in their last match, in Belgium, was not even named in the squad because of worries about his hamstring injury.Gould has called up the Wrexham goalkeeper Andy Marriott, the Blackburn defender Chris Coleman, St Johnstone’s former Coventry winger Lee Jenkinson and the Coventry striker, Simon Howarth.Wales will not be facing a full-strength Brazil side. Wales will face the might of the world champions, Brazil, tonight with almost all of their regular strikers left at home.

Wales’ manager, Bobby Gould, took his 16-man squad on the 14-hour flight to Brasilia on Sunday night without John Hartson, Mark Hughes and Nathan Blake. Substitutes not used: Fenton, Campbell, Keller (gk).Wimbledon (4-3-1-2): Sullivan; Cunningham, Perry, Blackwell, Thatcher; Ardley, Jones, C Hughes; M Hughes; Cort, Gayle. Substitutes not used: Solbakken, Reeves, Jupp, Clarke, Heald (gk).Referee: M Riley (Leeds).. Goalkeeper Pegguy Arphexad kept out one Gayle header, but was found wanting in the 50th minute.Arphexad’s recent form had been good enough to allow the United States goalkeeper, Kasey Keller, to recover from jet lag on the bench after his latest international mission.

Until Leicester’s quest for a late equaliser, it was as if neither set of players wanted to commit themselves for fear of being suckered by the other.Even Wimbledon’s formation was deceptive, with the deployment of Michael Hughes as a third attacker designed primarily to keep Leicester’s tall centre-backs busy and restrict the team’s effectiveness at set-pieces.The consequence was some numbingly sterile football which ultimately forced the Leicester manager, Martin O’Neill, into a tactical rethink.O’Neill’s cunning plan was to switch to 4-3-3 with Ian Marshall pushed into attack and Pontus Kamark assigned to shadow Michael Hughes, but though Marshall soon tested Neil Sullivan with a looping header, the change failed to achieve the desired result.Indeed, Wimbledon soon went ahead. But Keller would have expected to have dealt more effectively with the cross from which Gayle scored.Cort’s cross from the right soared high above the Frenchman and when Gayle made powerful contact with his head at the far post the ball was over the line before the goalkeeper could get a hand on it.This was a second critical error within a couple of minutes on the part of the home side, for whom Steve Guppy had managed to shoot over Sullivan’s crossbar from barely three yards moments earlier.As Wimbledon dug in, Leicester abandoned their earlier caution, but Marshall missed a second chance to exploit his power in the air by heading straight at Sullivan and then Ben Thatcher launched a fierce tackle to deny Emile Heskey as Leicester’s declining form stretched to seven matches with only one win.Leicester City (3-5-2): Arphexad; Prior, Elliott, Marshall; Kamark, Parker (Savage, 76), Lennon, Izzet, Guppy; Heskey, Claridge (Walsh, 76). The former Brentford forward, partnering Wimbledon’s 20-year-old leading scorer in the absence of Efan Ekoku among others, headed the decisive goal five minutes into the second half.
It was billed as the “new Wimbledon” against the real McCoy, but long passages of the match were curiously lacking in passion. Marcus Gayle, the striker to suffer most from Carl Cort’s emergence, stepped out of the shadows to settle a disappointingly low-key contest at Filbert Street last night with only his second Premiership goal of the season as Joe Kinnear’s injury-hit side climbed into ninth place.