FIRST the unimportant stuff. Philippe Van de Walle turned Les Ferdinand's spot-kick onto the post and Belgium took two points to England's one from this only occasionally stirring match that, truthfully, the Belgians deserved to win. What really matters is that this was England's last match before coach Glenn Hoddle must trim his 28-man squad to the 22 he must announce on Monday. And, as had been the case 48 hours before against Morocco and last Saturday against Saudi Arabia, very few of the squad's fringe players made anything like convincing cases for inclusion. The one who had most to prove was Paul Merson, yet for a first 45 minutes that had Hoddle seething on the sidelines, you wouldn't have guessed it. It was only when the coach ditched the 4-4-2 formation he had started with and reverted to his preferred 3-5-2 that the Middlesbrough man's quality began to show. By then Paul Gascoigne, looking fitter, sharper and more focused with every match despite playing much of the first half with a Rab C Nesbit-style head bandage after taking an early boot on the nut, had departed with a dead leg. ''At halftime I had to tell players that I didn't want to see that in the World Cup,'' said Hoddle. ''I had to give them a rollocking and I told them how poor they'd been. In both games out here, we haven't passed the ball as we should have done and I didn't want to see that. It was disappointing that Paul had to go off because I wanted him to play 70 or 75 minutes tonight. It was a bit of shame because, after he got hurt, he could only run at 50%. We couldn't afford to take a risk with him and we had to take him off." The post-rollocking Hoddle will have been pleased that the three-at-the-back system he prefers looked better than a flat back four. Other plusses were the workrate of Rob Lee, not enough to get him in the side but probably worth a place in the 22 ahead of Nicky Butt, man-of-the-match Nigel Martyn's assured display between the posts and proof once again that international defences are already concerned by young Michael Owen's pace. With Alan Shearer on the bench, and David Seaman and Tony Adams rested, the captaincy went to Tottenham's Sol Campbell - one of perhaps only three men from last night's side, Gascoigne and Graeme Le Saux are the others, who can expect to start against Tunisia on June 15. But if that's true, why did Hoddle choose the last game before the World Cup to start with a flat back four - Le Saux, whose crossing was not the best, operating in midfield - for the first time under his tenure? Gascoigne went down after being caught on the forehead by Enzo Scifo's high boot and, while he was being patched up, England could have gone behind. A loose header from Phil Neville, who played poorly, allowed Emile Mpenza to speed away but neither Michael Goosens nor Danny Boffin could make proper contact and Martyn - preferred to Ian Walker, who didn't get a game on this trip - saved comfortably. Gazza returned seemingly wound up by the blow, his passing much slicker, his pace improving, with Lee, always busy, always available, doing himself no harm. That industry and Gascoigne's vision sent Les Ferdinand away in the 20th minute and he netted calmly but was wrongly flagged for offside. The Belgians continued to cut through time and again but Martyn was having one of those games he usually reserves for Elland Road and they couldn't beat him. At this point Gascoigne was mixing up the passes, making himself available and showing what only he can do with one sublime ball to Lee just before the break that caught the Belgians flat-footed but ultimately led to nothing . The switch to 3-5-2 saw Owen and Rio Ferdinand come on for the Nevilles. Merson dropped into the hole and the West Ham man went into the middle of the defensive trio. Gascoigne, probably as a precaution, lasted just five more minutes before being replaced by David Beckham. It was a final chance for Merson, and he tried to grasp it, carrying the ball more effectively, almost sending Owen away a couple of times. Just as against Morocco, England were better in the second period. Le Saux forced Van de Walle into action for the first time in the 63rd minute, stepping outside Eric Deflandre before firing towards the top corner. When Beckham floated in the dead ball, Butt's blocked shot fell to Merson who, 18 yards out, drilled low but within the Van de Walle's reach. Eight minutes later, Merson spanked a volley that flew a fraction off-target. At the other end Martyn made a sensational flying save from Scifo's screamer right at the death and the stage was set for the shoot-out - hardly necessary, hardly a thriller. But at least we saw the ball hit the back of the net! YUGOSLAVIA 3 NIGERIA 0 Former Aston Villa striker Savo Milosevic set World Cup dark horses Yugoslavia on their way to an impressive victory with a diving header on the stroke of halftime. Pedrag Mijatovic, the goalscorer in Real Madrid's Champions League final win over Juventus, scored the second after a dreadful goalkeeping error. Keeper Abiodun Baruwa had the ball under control, but pushed it out too far with his foot allowing Mijatovic to steal it off him and guide the ball into an empty net. Hammering out a warning to group rivals Germany, the USA and Iran, the Yugoslavs netted again on 72 minutes when Darko Kovacevic beat the offside trap, got the better of a defender and fired the ball home. CROATIA 1 SLOVAKIA 2 Croatia's troubled build-up to France 98 continued last night as they lost at home to lowly Slovakia. Only days after striker Alen Boksic pulled out with a knee injury and potential replacement Igor Cvitanovic was kicked off the team by disciplinarian coach Miroslav Blazevic, the Croats were embarrassed in front of their own fans. Tibor Jancula put Slovakia ahead after only four minutes and although the home team rallied to level on the stroke of halftime through Goran Vlaovic, they went behind to stay on the hour when Jozef Majoros netted.

WRIGHT WOULD HAVE MISSED OUT ANYWAY   Football365 Exclusive by Gavin Willacy IAN WRIGHT would not have made Glenn Hoddle's final 22-man squad even if he had been fit. That's the shock story we have learned from our sources in the England camp and close friends of Wright back in London. Football365 understands that Hoddle told the Arsenal striker that he was going to be cut from the squad regardless of his hamstring strain, hoping to lessen the blow of his injury. Whether the news had the desired affect or not, only Wright knows, but the manager's decision was made easier for him as soon as the 34-year-old hobbled off after 26 minutes in Morocco on Wednesday night. While the nation's fans presumed Wright would be on the plane to France after his lively substitute performance against Saudi Arabia last Saturday, Hoddle had other plans. He had decided that the striker was not at his best, and only his best was good enough for a World Cup campaign. With only three starts since mid-January, the manager surmised that he could not afford to take a thirtysomething forward who would not have played a full 90 minutes in five months by the time England kicked-off against Tunisia. While he is prepared to live in the past and accept the currency of former glories from a handful of crocks - Anderton, Ferdinand, Gascoigne among them - he held no such nostalgic torch for Wright, despite the Arsenal star's heroic one-man forward display in Rome that helped clinch a place in France. He now has a choice of Alan Shearer, Teddy Sheringham, Michael Owen, Les Ferdinand or Dion Dublin for his forward department. And 365's feeling is that he will take all five to the World Cup, to safeguard against injury and suspension, with Paul Scholes ousting Paul Merson from the 'midfielder-who-can-play-up-front' role. Shearer is, of course, a certainty, Sheringham stays despite his slump in form, Ferdinand offers a different style, Dublin can provide cover at the back and Owen… well, if Hoddle really believes what he says about the boy wonder, then a) he'll only take him to France grudgingly and then leave him on the bench, and b) he has lost his marbles. Owen not a natural goalscorer? He doesn't score goals week-in, week-out for season after season? Glenn, he's scored in nearly every game since he was eight!! Who are you trying to kid?! It is obligatory for all England managers to go a little odd after a certain time in the job and Hoddle is approaching that fateful two year mark. Terry Venables just survived the insanity, but only because he had his court actions to worry about - he did pick Kevin Richardson, Colin Cooper, David Unsworth and John Scales, though. It is the prerogative of the national manager to fly in the face of public opinion and defy the obvious. Months of sitting alone watching videos in a darkened room is never good for a man's health or sociability. So when it comes around to being the centre of attention, paranoia envelops them. ‘Don't do what the papers say' ‘Don't listen to Joe Punter because he knows nothing - did he play 53 times for England?' No we didn't, but that's exactly the point, Glenn? Surely someone with your experience, who was treated so badly by Ron Greenwood and Bobby Robson, should know that cliques are the last thing a football team needs. Players must be picked on merit, not on whether you like them. We have Glenn's men in one corner (Anderton, Ferdinand, Walker, Merson, Adams, Lee - basically anyone from London) and the realists in the other (McManaman, Owen, Shearer). Believe in Eileen, believe in Glenn. Shun Eileen, insult Glenn and watch the World Cup on telly. Let's just hope Wrighty's got a massive big-screen TV and gets all his mates round to watch what might have been.

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