EUROPEAN hopes are looking bleak at Sunderland and Danish international goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen regrets the club's decision not to apply for an Intertoto Cup place this summer.

Sorensen will be one of a number of Sunderland players who will be on World Cup duty in Japan and South Korea, but he still feels that using the Intertoto competition as a route into Europe - as arch-rivals Newcastle United tried to do this season - was a viable proposition.

Sunderland would have qualified for the tournament, but declined to enter.

He said: "It is difficult because going to the World Cup if you progress to the later stages it will be a short summer and you need at least four weeks' holiday.

"But it would be exciting to play in the Intertoto Cup, playing proper games instead of friendlies in Holland or somewhere.

"It has done Newcastle good and I think it has done a lot of teams good.

"That is my personal view - hopefully I could be playing in the final stages of the World Cup for Denmark and that would make it difficult to get my holidays!"

While Sorensen will be on duty for Denmark in the Far East other teammates who could be in world Cup action are Niall Quinn, Kevin Kilbane, Jason McAteer (Republic of Ireland), Kevin Phillips (England), Claudio Reyna (USA) and Patrick Mboma (Cameroon).

The World Cup will not finish until June 30 and the Intertoto is due to get underway early in July.

Sorensen said: "Because of the timing of the Intertoto it might not be possible to play your strongest team. But it might be a good opportunity for the younger players to get the experience."

Danish goalkeeping legend Peter Schmeichel, who has been succeeded in the national team by Sorensen, could well be playing in the Intertoto for Aston Villa, beaten finalists the previous season, while Leeds, Newcastle and Ipswich have applied for inclusion.

Newcastle just failed to win a place in the UEFA Cup this season when they lost out on away goals to French side Troyes in this season's Intertoto Cup Final.

Although Sunderland have not ruled out applying for an Intertoto Cup place in future seasons manager Peter Reid has turned down the chance this summer because of the number of players involved in the World Cup.

Explaining his reluctance to get involved in the competition Reid said: "I haven't wanted us to enter previously because we didn't have the strength in depth and I didn't want to go into a new season with injuries and suspensions.

"But now we're becoming a more established club if the Intertoto came up again it's something we would have to look at."

Sunderland's players are due to report back for pre-season training on July 1, but those involved in the World Cup are expected to be given extra time off.

* England's Under-21 side will warm up for the European Championships with friendlies against their two major group rivals.

The draw in Nyon yesterday paired David Platt's team with holders Italy and Portugal as well as hosts Switzerland.

To prepare for the championships, which take place between May 16 and 28, England will take on the Italians next month and Portugal in April at Bradford and Stoke respectively.

Platt, who is unbeaten in his seven matches in charge of the team, has good knowledge of the Italian game as a player with Bari, Juventus and Sampdoria and briefly as coach of the latter.

Italy won the last Under-21 European Championships in Slovakia in 2000 and have been triumphant in four of the last five.

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