Still A Lion

Smith turned down an offer to replace the injured Andrew Johnson in Sven Goran Eriksson's England squad to play a friendly against Denmark this Wednesday. He chose to play for United's reserves on Monday in order to improve his fitness.

FA chief executive Brian Barwick: "It is probably not the cleverest thing he has done."

BBC: Eriksson moves to reassure Smith

Eriksson: "I take the blame and it's finished now. The door is not closed for Alan Smith, I promise you."
"I think he had his reasons, maybe he thought he wasn't fit and wanted 90 minutes of football rather than sitting on the bench."
"I didn't check up on how many games he'd played, but I talked to the fitness coach and he was very keen he should play 90 minutes, so it's a little bit my fault."

I think there is nothing wrong with this. It's a brave decision. Of course every player loves to play for their country, but for now, it's better for him to work on his fitness first. Since he didn't play much in Man Utd recently.