Smith to keep England place

Eriksson was impressed by Smith's performance

Leeds striker Alan Smith is set to be involved in England's upcoming European Championship qualifiers after impressing Sven-Goran Eriksson on his international debut.

The England coach said Smith's performance in the 1-1 draw with Portugal, in which he scored England's goal, had pushed him to the forefront of his thinking.

"He played very well that game, I think he was maybe our best player so of course he is very interesting for the future," Eriksson told BBC Radio Five Live.

Michael Owen is playing good football, he is lively from what I saw and what my scouts told me

Sven-Goran Eriksson

"We will see when we pick the squad for Slovakia and Macedonia (who England play in October) but I think he will be one of them."

But Eriksson added that he did not anticipate making wholesale changes to the squad which reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

"I don't think we should be making too many changes because we have already a young, good squad," Eriksson said.

"Alan Smith is one of those who might come into squad for future but I don't see ten other names coming in, maybe someone but very few."

Owen has had a poor start to the season

And Eriksson stood by struggling Liverpool striker Michael Owen, who has scored only once from open play this season.

"That is the life of the striker. I think he is playing good football, he is lively from what I saw and what my scouts told me," Eriksson said.

"Unfortunately he's not scoring, but if you see every big striker in the world, now and then that happens to them and it becomes a thing inside the head more than a physical thing."

England go into the matches against Slovakia and Macedonia on the back of just one friendly - the only time the full squad have been together since the summer's World Cup.

However, Eriksson has been criticised for the number of friendlies the national side play, despite cutting a number of warm-up games to ease congestion on the fixture calendar.

All the managers agree that there is too much football

Sven-Goran Eriksson

"At this congress many countries have been surprised that we took away three friendly games in two years," he said.

"That would never happen in other countries so I think we have been very helpful to players and clubs.

"At some stage you need a friendly game before you go out to a qualification game if we want to have a good team."

But Eriksson reiterated his belief that players need a mid-season break in order to avoid the sort of injuries which rocked England's plans for this year's World Cup.

Coaches back winter break

"What we need is a break during the season or at least one or two weeks more before the World Cup starts so you have time to give the players a holiday and then start the preparation," he said.

"I don't know if it's possible or not but you have to fight for your ideas.

"All the managers (at the conference) agree that there is too much football and at some stage you have to give the players a break."