Cardiff, Wales (Sports Network) - With Europe's national teams set to resume qualifying for the 2004 European Championships following a lengthy winter hiatus, Wales manager Mark Hughes has come in well under the wire in naming 27 men Monday to his side for the nation's matches on March 29 and April 2 against Azerbaijan and Serbia and Montenegro (formerly Yugoslavia), respectively.
Hughes decided to call in 27 players due to personnel concerns with West Brom's Andy Johnson, who has a broken foot, Reading's Adrian Williams, who is struggling with a knee injury, and Cardiff City's Rhys Weston and Danny Gabbidon, who are both out with back ailments.
"We have to cover ourselves or maybe lose them," said Hughes. "The biggest doubt is Gabbidon. He has been out for a long while with his problem. He certainly won't be involved in any of the build-up and is probably going to miss the games anyway." Welshman Mark Delaney, who suits up for the Premiership's Aston Villa, is also contending with an injury, has already been ruled out for selection.
"I will have to play someone there who does not play in that position for his club. Weston and Matty Jones can both do the job but we'll have to wait and see until nearer the match," Hughes added.
Wales currently sits atop the Group 9 table with a 100-percent 3-0 record and the maximum nine points thus far with wins over Finland, Italy and Azerbaijan.
"We must keep our noses in front and hope that eventually other countries run out of games to catch us," he said.
Wales squad: P Jones, Crossley, Ward, Coyne, Melville, Symons, Page, A Williams, Gabbidon, Barnard, Weston, Speed, Pembridge, Savage, Davies, M Jones, Robinson, Johnson, Oster, Trollope, Koumas, Giggs, Hartson, Blake, Bellamy, Taylor, Earnshaw.
