The English FA will announce today whether Rio Ferdinand will play in England's final Euro 2004 qualifier against Turkey after the Manchester United defender omitted to take a drugs test.
Ferdinand failed to undergo the routine test at his club's training ground in September and has been reported to the FA.
England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has delayed naming his squad until 1 p.m. today.
"We are not making a comment at this particular moment. We will announce the squad at one o'clock and if there is anything further to be discussed then we will do so then," FA spokesman Adrian Bevington said.
Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor said he believed Ferdinand would be excluded. He told BBC Radio: "This is a big game and he is a big player and you can imagine how he feels...and you can imagine how the club feels about one of its biggest assets, that's self-evident."
Ferdinand, 24, who became English soccer's most expensive player when he joined United last year for stg£30 million pounds, reportedly forgot to take the test because he was moving house on the day in question but took it later after realising his error.
"The player has not been charged with any offence but has been asked to attend a personal interview on Monday, October 13th to explain the reason behind his non-attendance," United said in a statement.
"He underwent a routine official FA drugs test 36 hours later on September 23rd and this was negative," the statement said.
A player who fails or refuses to take a drugs test is considered to have committed a doping offence and could be suspended for up to two years, according to FA rules.
England play Turkey in Istanbul on Saturday needing only a draw to qualify automatically for next year's European Championship finals in Portugal.