International news thread

[PastyHusty]

LOL @ Costa Rica ...... that just proves that these ranking are a joke. Since when have they done anything worthy of moving up into the top 20!!!! If Costa Rica can get into the top 20 then Wales should be in the top 5! I still can't see how Mexico are in the top 10 either!

However, I can see why England's win over Turkey would move them above the Turks. I wonder where Italy went.

[ForeverInLoveWithJus]

They did well in the World Cup!

[PastyHusty]

Some interesting friendlies on tonight:

Ireland .v. Norway (Emma .v. Chris!)
Scotland .v. Austria
Czech Rep .v. Turkey
Holland .v. Portugal
Switzerland .v. Italy

[PastyHusty]

In tonight's friendlies Ireland beat Norway 1-0 with an early goal from Damien Duff and Scotland were beaten 2-0 at home to Austria!

In other games Spain and France both had comfortable wins, with Spain defeating Ecuador 4-0 and France thrashing Egypt 5-0. Italy came back from 1-0 down away at Switzerland to win 2-1 while Holland and Portugal drew 1-1. The Czechs thrashed Turkey in some style, beating them by four goals to nothing, while Belgium had a good 3-1 home win over Poland.

[ForeverInLoveWithJus]

I went to see the Ireland v Norway game, it was okay, I thought Carew played really well, Nice to get the victory!

[DrTagnian]

Originally posted by GetNasty
while Belgium had a good 3-1 home win over Poland.

Belgium won





We played well and 1-1 is a nice result. Our history with Portugal is pretty bad. We all remember the 2 qualification matches for the WC 2002.

[ForeverInLoveWithJus]

Australia will look for a second British Isles scalp in 2003 when they play the Republic of Ireland in an August friendly.

Having already embarrassed England at Upton Park in February, Frank Farina's Socceroos will take on the Irish on August 20 at Lansdowne Road in Dublin.

Soccer Australia sought out the friendly after the cancellation of their match against Nigeria which was scheduled to be played in London on August 19.

For Australia, it will be their first match since defeating England 3-1, while the Irish will use the game as a warm-up for the Euro 2004 qualifiers against Russia on September 6 and Switzerland on October 11.

Australia and Ireland have never previously met in a full international.

[PastyHusty]

Good luck against the Ozzies Emma.

At the moment I'd predict a draw for that game.

[PastyHusty]

Here's some interesting news regarding the number of places at the World Cup in 2006. FIFA, football's governing body, has decided to increase the number of teams in the World Cup from 32 teams, to 36 teams, starting with the next WC in 2006. The decision was made at an executive committee meeting yesterday, but it won't be fully confirmed until the 28th or 29th of June when they meet again.

Full Story

[ForeverInLoveWithJus]

Wayne Rooney has been surprisingly named in Sven-Goran Eriksson's squad for the summer internationals.

The Everton teenager could still be pulled out of the friendly in South Africa after he damaged medial knee ligaments against Manchester United on Sunday.

But because Eriksson's squad is for the friendly against Serbia-Montenegro and the Euro 2004 qualifier against Slovakia in June, the 17-year-old has been included.

The other big shock saw David Seaman, who will be 40 in September, omitted from the squad.

Leicester goalkeeper Ian Walker - back in the top flight after the Foxes' promotion - took Seaman's place in the squad.

Ex-Tottenham keeper Walker will battle it out with West Ham's David James and Leeds' Paul Robinson for the right to call himself England's new number one.

But Eriksson refused to confirm that Seaman had played his last game for England.

"In view of the excellent way in which David James performed in his two competitive games and the fact that we are still unsure of David Seaman's plans for next year, it is better that David James remains in place for this one competitive game.

"We shall re-assess David Seaman's situation after the summer."

Birmingham centre-back Matthew Upson was also named in the party.

Arsenal and Southampton players will not be selected for the South Africa game on 22 May because it comes less than one week after Saturday's FA Cup final.

Players from those two clubs, as well as Bayern Munich's Owen Hargreaves, will join up with the squad after the trip to Durban.

Sol Campbell has been expected to be named in the squad after the FA revealed it had changed its own rule to allow Eriksson to pick players serving bans in domestic football.

But the Arsenal centre-back was excluded along with injured players Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, Francis Jeffers and Jonathan Woodgate.



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England squad:

Goalkeepers:
James (West Ham), Robinson (Leeds), Walker (Leicester).

Defenders:
Cole* (Arsenal), Bridge* (Southampton), Mills (Leeds), P Neville (Man Utd), Ferdinand (Man Utd), Southgate (Middlesbrough), Terry (Chelsea), Upson (Birmingham City)

Midfielders:
Beckham (Man Utd), Scholes (Man Utd), Dyer (Newcastle), Jenas (Newcastle), Hargreaves* (Bayern Munich), Murphy (Liverpool), Lampard (Chelsea), Gerrard (Liverpool), Sinclair (West Ham);

Strikers:
Owen (Liverpool), Heskey (Liverpool), Rooney (Everton), Vassell (Aston Villa), Beattie* (Southampton).

* Ashley Cole, Wayne Bridge, Owen Hargreaves and James Beattie to join up with squad after South Africa match