Soccer-England coach faces crucial choices for Russia

WATFORD, England, Sep 11 (Reuters) Steve McClaren has a problem that most coaches would be happy to share as he prepares his England squad for their crucial Group E qualifier againstRussia at Wembley Stadium tomorrow.

Forced by withdrawals to field an unfamiliar looking team which brushed aside an ineffective Israel 3-0 at Wembley on Saturday, he must now decide whether to keep faith with the players who came in or change his side.

He has important decisions to make. With eight of the 12 qualifiers played, Croatia lead the standings with 20 points followed by Russia (18) and England (17) -- and McClaren has little margin for error in the matches ahead.

England will move ahead of Russia with a win, while it will be a major upset if Croatia fail to beat bottom-placed Andorra on the same night.

England midfielder Steven Gerrard, who played with a broken toe on Saturday and is one of the certain starters tomorrow, told reporters at a briefing on Monday: ''The coach has got a selection headache but it's a good problem to have. The players he decided to play on Saturday have given him that headache.

''Gareth (Barry) played really well in midfield, Emile (Heskey) did well up front and Shaun (Wright-Phillips) got man of the match. Yes, he's got a headache but that's the sort of problem he wants as a manager.'' McClaren can recall Peter Crouch, who was suspended on Saturday, but that would mean no place for Heskey, who won his first cap in three years and was applauded by the crowd when he was substituted after 70 minutes.

His selection problem was eased a little when Owen Hargreaves, who missed Saturday's match with a thigh injury, was ruled out of tomorrow's game late yesterday.

Barry, who gave the team much needed balance on left is now expected to keep his place, especially as Frank Lampard is another absentee through injury.

TOUGHER OPPOSITION Russia are sure to provide far tougher opposition than Israel, with Andrei Arshavin, their main attacking creative threat, the man whom England will have to nullify.

Russia have arrived in confident mood following Saturday's 3-0 home victory over Macedonia which keeps them in one of the two qualifying places.

Their Dutch coach Guus Hiddink has few injury worries of his own but striker Ivan Saenko (sprained ankle) and winger Yuri Zhirkov (muscle spasm) remain doubtful.

At least the Dutchman does not have a goalkeeping dilemma to solve.

He will be forced to play his third-choice keeper Vyacheslav Malafeyev, who saved a penalty on Saturday, because second choice Vladimir Gabulov is suspended after being sent off in the game. Undisputed number one Igor Akinfeyev is injured.

Probable teams: England: Paul Robinson; Micah Richards, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Ashley Cole; Shaun Wright-Phillips, Steven Gerrard, Gareth Barry or Owen Hargreaves, Joe Cole; Emile Heskey or Peter Crouch, Michael Owen Russia: Vyacheslav Malafeyev; Vasily Berezutsky, Sergei Ignashevich, Alexei Berezutsky; Yuri Zhirkov or Alexander Anyukov, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Konstantin Zyryanov, Igor Semshov, Ivan Saenko or Vladimir Bystrov; Andrei Arshavin, Roman Pavlyuchenko Referee: Martin Hansson (Sweden) REUTERS BJR AS1005