Micah doesn't travel
Jamie Bradbury
Wednesday, 01 September, 2010
Richards ruled out of Under-21s trip to Portugal through illness.
England Under-21s travel to Portugal this afternoon, in preparation for their key 2011 European Championship Qualifier with the Portuguese in Barcelos on Friday (ko 6pm).
The youthful squad had their last training session in England on Wednesday morning before boarding their flight, where they will resume activities in a bid to complete a double over their Portuguese rivals, following a 1-0 win at Wembley earlier in the campaign.
England will, however, travel without Micah Richards who has withdrawn from the squad with illness. The Manchester City defender reported sick after his side's defeat to Sunderland at the weekend and despite being given extra time to recuperate, the experienced Under-21 international has failed to recover in time to make the flight to Portugal.
Richards' withdrawal follows injury problems to Andy Carroll, Jack Rodwell, Victor Moses, Henri Lansbury and Alex Smithies.
Head to head
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