England v Uruguay
International friendly
Anfield
7.45pm, 1 March 2006

England v Jamaica
International friendly
Old Trafford
2pm, 3 June 2006

The FA can announce that Uruguay and Jamaica will be England’s opponents in the remaining two friendlies leading up to the World Cup.

England will play Uruguay at Anfield on 1 March at 7.45pm, with Jamaica the visitors for the final warm-up match on 3 June at Old Trafford with kick-off at 2pm.

Sven-Goran Eriksson’s team will also play Hungary at Old Trafford on 30 May, with both warm-up matches being screened live on the BBC.

Sven said: “I’m delighted that we have been able to finalise these fixtures quickly and am very pleased with our opponents. These games will allow us to test ourselves against teams with very different styles of play, which is critical ahead of a World Cup.

“Uruguay are a very well-organised team who are very difficult to play against and came very close to qualifying for Germany. They will present a tough test and a similar challenge to our group opponents Paraguay.

“Jamaica will be similar in style to Trinidad & Tobago and have a lot of players playing in this country, like Ricardo Gardner at Bolton and Jason Euell at Charlton.

“I know that this game will be a fantastic occasion, as I’m sure they will be very well supported. It promises to be a special match.”

Uruguay missed out on qualification for next year’s World Cup by the narrowest of margins, losing to Australia in a penalty shoot-out after the two-legged play-off ended in an aggregate 1-1 score.

Jorge Fossati’s team finished fifth in the South American group, beating Argentina at home and drawing twice with Brazil. They were the winners of the first World Cup, on home soil in 1930, and won their second world title 20 years later in Brazil.

England have played Uruguay nine times, winning twice, drawing three times and losing four matches. The last game was a 0-0 draw in March 1995.

Jamaica qualified for the 1998 World Cup, beating Japan in their final group game after losing to Argentina and Croatia.

However, under Brazilian coach Sebastio Lazaroni, they were knocked out by USA in the second stage of the CONCACAF qualifying rounds for Germany. He has subsequently been replaced by Wendell Downswell. It will be the first time that England have played Jamaica.

Sven also explained that England’s preparation will go far beyond the warm-up matches: “Besides these games we will be scouting and studying the teams in our World Cup group and potential opponents in the knock-out rounds.

"We will make sure that our preparation is absolutely top-quality. Of course we also have the extra week’s build-up which will be crucial for the recovery of the players after a long season.

“I am very excited about this World Cup. With the blend of quality, youth and experience we have in our squad, we are confident of beating any opponents.”

* Ticket information for these games has not yet been finalised. We'll bring you that information here as soon as we have it, which is likely to be in the next couple of weeks.