despite appearing regularly for england in fifa world cup qualifying matches and friendly matches, defoe was not named in the provisional england squad for the 2006 fifa world cup in germany and named only on a five-man standby list. he joined the squad for training in germany, but returned to england when wayne rooney was cleared to play after having suffered a foot injury in april. he confessed that he was baffled by his omission, saying, "i've been involved in every squad for the last two years and feel i've played a part in helping us to qualify. i have never felt fitter and sharper than i was in training and believe i could have scored goals in the tournament. it's a strange decision and everybody i speak to thinks so as well." eriksson explained why defoe was not selected for the england squad: "jermain had a very bad season. i don't think he deserved to go to the world cup."