IT was World Cup joy for Wes Brown but heartbreak for Phil Neville when Sven-Goran Eriksson named his provisional squad for next month's finals.

Manchester-born Brown has forced his way into coach Eriksson's World Cup plans despite playing only five matches for Manchester United since recovering from knee and ankle ligament injuries.

But it was a double dose of agony for Brown's Old Trafford team-mate Neville who has failed to make Eriksson's final squad in a repeat of his bitter experience when he was axed from Glenn Hoddle's squad for the 1998 finals.

To complete the Neville family torment, elder brother Gary has also been ruled out of the World Cup finals after fracturing a bone in his toe in the Champions' League semi-final against Bayer Leverkusen two weeks ago.

Turnaround

Brown, aged 22, was reconciled to being a mere spectator while England were competing for glory in Japan and South Korea.

The brilliant young centre-back spent five months of the campaign on the sidelines at Old Trafford as he battled to recover from ligament damage in both his knee and his ankle.

He returned to first-team action less than a month ago for the Premiership clash against Chelsea and has clearly made a huge impression on Eriksson in the five consecutive league and European matches he has played in since then.

Danny Murphy is likely to be placed on standby in case Nicky Butt fails to recover from a knee injury.