Club England managing director Adrian Bevington admitted it was never an option for an international get-together this month rather than a friendly match. Fabio Capello lost four of his squad for Wednesday night's friendly with Denmark in Copenhagen within 24 hours of naming his squad, including skipper Steven Gerrard.

This raised the inevitable questions about the purpose of England's latest game with Champions League matches to be played next week.

One idea is to have a training camp instead of a game, which would allow Capello to work on set-piece routines ahead of the Euro 2012 qualifier in Wales next month.

But Bevington insists such an idea is unrealistic.

"We are not the only team playing international football this week," he told TalkSPORT.

"It is a designated FIFA date and we actually play fewer games than we did in the past.

"It is important to have these games and the thought has always been to take one."