New Delhi: England will play Germany in a friendly football game on Wednesday at Wembley but key players of both the teams will not be a part of the action.
Former England skipper David Beckham has flown in from the United States of America to join his teammates.
Beckham had been dropped from the squad after the 2006 Football World Cup but recalled after England's poor performance at the Euro 2008 qualifiers.
England trained in London without Steven Gerrard and Owen Hargreaves, both of will miss the game against Germany.
Wayne Rooney, Gary Neville, Wayne Bridge, Jonathan Woodgate, Aaron Lennon, Ledley King and Michael Dawson will also give the match a miss while John Terry and Michael Owen have just come back from long term injuries.
Germany, too, have a few problems of their own and they will miss many of their rtop players due to injuries. Skipper Michael Ballack leads the list of absentees which includes Miroslav Klose, Torsten Frings, Clemens Fritz, Mario Gomez, Marcell Jansen, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira.
Germany coach Joachim Loew already had and Mario Gomez sidelined when Miroslav Klose, also pulled out of the squad.
Bernd Schneider will lead Germany in the absence of Ballack.
However, Germany's coach Joachim Loew sounded confident despite going into the match with a depleted side.
"We may not be as dominating and offensive as we have been in other games. But we will try to be well organised and will try to play offensively whenever that is possible. We know that the only chance to win such a match is to play offensively and score goals," Joachim Loew said.
Germany beat England 1-0 in the final game to be played at the old Wembley in October 2000.
In the other friendlies on Wednesday, Brazil face Algeria with Ronaldinho and Kaka back after missing the team's triumph in the Copa America last month.
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David Trezeguet returns to the France squad for a game at Slovakia, and Ruud van Nistelrooy has been recalled by Netherlands coach Marco van Basten since they fell out at last year's World Cup. The Dutch play Switzerland in Geneva.
Striker Luca Toni is back for Italy's game against Hungary in Budapest and United States coach Bob Bradley has called up 16 European-based players in his squad of 19 for a friendly against Sweden in Goteborg.
In Euro 2008 qualifiers, Serbia and Portugal aim to make up ground on Group A leader Poland, which leads them both by five points but has played two games more.
Serbia goes to fifth-place Belgium but may have 2.02-meter (6-foot-8) striker Nikola Zigic missing with an ankle injury. Although suspended for three games for Manchester United, Cristiano Ronaldo will be back for Portugal in Armenia but Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho is injured.
Finland is also five points behind Poland but with only one game in hand. Mikael Forssell is a doubtful starter for the game against visiting Kazakhstan.
In Group F, third-place Northern Ireland hopes to stay in contention for one of the two qualifying spots by beating visiting Liechtenstein. Sweden leads the group with 18 points, followed by Spain with 15 and Northern Ireland with 13 and a game in hand on both.
(With inputs from Associated Press)
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