Turkey spark tickets fear

The game in Istanbul on 11 October will determine which team qualifies directly for the tournament in Portugal next summer, and security fears have led to the FA rejecting their ticket allocation.

But newspaper reports on Sunday claimed Turkish football officials were ready to sell thousands of tickets to England fans, prompting further pleas to stay at home.

"Of course, I should like to see fans at games," said England coach Eriksson.

"But, if it's a security problem, then it's better not to travel because you can risk being injured, you can even risk your life."

We want them to behave in Turkey David Beckham on England fans

England fans were asked not to travel to Skopje for Saturday's qualifier against Macedonia, but about 250 made the trip to see Eriksson's side win 2-1.

And European governing body Uefa has warned that a repeat in Turkey could see England kicked out of Euro 2004.

"The message has to be that fans do not travel," said Uefa's communications and public affairs director Mike Lee.

"The FA have taken the right decision and anyone who wants to see their team in Euro 2004 should stay away from Istanbul.

"It's an important game, but not just for footballing reasons. It's about security and the future, and the best way to support England is by staying at home and watching on TV.

"We want this game to be a safe one and don't want them to spoil it."

Macedonia face racism probe

The FA's director of marketing Paul Barber claimed the England fans who defied advice not to travel to Skopje contributed to crowd problems in the ground.

"We had made repeated appeals for our fans to stay away but, despite this, a small determined group of people decided to ignore our requests and purchased tickets on the black market," said Barber.

"This was far from helpful and, inevitably, the presence of England supporters in a stadium with no planned segregation led to a number of incidents in various parts of the ground.

"In fact, some England fans asked to be moved because they feared for their own safety. This is precisely why we were urging England [fans] not to travel in the first place.

"Once again, on behalf of the FA and the England players, we urge any England fans thinking of travelling to Turkey next month to stay away."

Lee criticised the England players, led by captain David Beckham, who applauded their travelling fans after Saturday's win.

Beckham fury at Macedonia

But he said Uefa would investigate Beckham's claims that a death threat was made to him by a Macedonia player during the game if the FA backed it up with evidence and an official statement.