SPANISH NATIONAL TEAM: DEL BOSQUE CALLS UP BOJAN, AMOREBIETA, IRAOLA & CAPEL AGAINST DENMARK

New Spanish National Team Selector & Coach VICENTE DEL
BOSQUE (pictured below) has handed in his first list of players for
next Wednesday´s friendly game against DENMARK. Del Bosque was
faced beforehand with injuries to Goalkeeper Palop, defender
Marchena & midfieder Cesc Fabregas, all members of the winning
European Nations Cup Team.

Added to this Del Bosque has dropped Sergio Garcia (Zaragoza)
& Arbeloa (Liverpool) also members of the European Champions
Team.

The news is that Bojan (Barcelona), Amorebieta & Iraola (At.
Bilbao) & Capel (Sevilla) have been called up to fill in the gaps
& make up the final list.

Here is the FULL LIST of Spanish players:

Goalkeepers: Casillas (R.Madrid) & Reina (Liverpool)

Defenders: Sergio Ramos (R.Madrid),Puyol (Barcelona), Juanito
(Betis), Albiol (Valencia), Amorebieta (pictured; At.Bilbao),

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Joh-Zay Mourinho Rooting for Vitória de Guimarães

Since Mourinho, like the Irishman “Stephen” from Braveheart, speaks directly with God (and makes sure that God picks up Jose’s Armani suits from the cleaners), whenever a quote comes out of his mouth, it’s transcribed directly into the Gospel According to Mourinho. This time, however, the gospel writers were on lunch so the Inter Milan webmasters decided to post his Heavenly words of encouragement to Vitória de Guimarães as they prepare to face off against Swiss side FC Basel 1893 in a home and away playoff to determine who will be finishing fourth in one of the Champions League groups. Let’s head to the Church of Mourinho, shall we?

Lift up your League and Champions League trophies! We lift them up to Jose…

An E-Mail Reading from Jose to the Guimarinians:

“I [God] have always respected and admired the club [Guimarães] and its relation with its supporters. Vitoria is a huge club with a huge heart. Its fans are its heart. The Mourinho would like to return to the stadium, hopefully this year in the Champions League.

I think Portugal deserves three teams in the Champions League and I feel that Vitoria have the quality to beat FC Basel. I’m going to be rooting for them; rooting for Portugal. Good luck Vitoria. I’ll be waiting to kick the ever loving shit out of you for you in the Champions League.” Amen.

Guimarães defend the home fort against FC Basel 867-5309 tomorrow at the only time UEFA ever seems to be able to wake up for: 20:45 local. You can tell the honchos over at European Football’s governing body are fucking enamored with this match up, as the paragraph summary concluding their previews of all the Third Qualifying Round matches ends with the enthralling description which I’ve done you the favor of highlighting below:

“The teams triumphant in the previous round will not want to stumble now, least of all Anorthosis Famagusta FC, who can become the first team from Cyprus to reach the group stage if they progress past Olympiacos CFP. Another Greek outfit, Panathinaikos FC, visit AC Sparta Praha, while FBK Kaunas take on Aalborg BK in Denmark, still buzzing after beating Rangers FC. FC BATE Borisov also sprung a surprise by overcoming RSC Anderlecht and they meet PFC Levski Sofia in Bulgaria while free-scoring Fenerbahçe SK are up against FK Partizan. Elsewhere, NK Dinamo Zagreb will want to shine away to FC Shakhtar Donetsk and FC Basel 1893 visit Vitória SC.” (from UEFA.com)

Gripping! I personally don’t know why they’re even playing these matches since The Special One has already made Guimarães The Chosen Ones. But hey, I guess we can turn off “Olhos de Água” for a few minutes and watch some meaningful Portuguese football in the middle of the week, can’t we?

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Germany v Turkey (Semi Final 1)

UEFA EURO 2008 SEMI-FINAL

Date: Wed 25 June Kick-off: 1945 BST Venue: St Jakob-Park, Basel

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Turkey coach Fatih Terim has been hit by injuries and suspension

Germany coach Joachim Low said Torsten Frings could play against Turkey despite suffering from a fractured rib.

The midfielder was back in training on Monday having missed the quarter-final win over Portugal.

Turkey face the prospect of having just 13 outfield players available for their Euro 2008 semi-clash.

Keeper Volkan Demirel will miss out after his two-match ban was upheld for a red card against Czech Republic and Emre (hamstring) was also ruled out.

Coach Terim said Tumer Metin might be able to play the last 30 minutes of the match despite suffering from a groin strain and he may also have to field third-choice keeper Tolgan Zengin because of the injury crisis.

"He could come on towards the end as a sub as last man in defence or a centre forward," he said.

The Turks were without six players when they beat Croatia 3-1 in a penalty shoot-out in the quarter-finals Friday, and lost a further three - Tuncay Sanli, Arda Turan and Emre Asik - to suspension after picking up yellow cards during the match at Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna.

Striker Nihat Kahveci was ruled out of the tournament on Sunday with a thigh injury, but Uefa insists it will not be making a special dispensation for Turkey to call up more players to their squad.

Defensive midfielder Mehmet Aurelio returns from a one-match ban, but keeper Volkan still has one game left on his suspension.

Uefa spokesman William Gaillard said: "You can’t replace any players after the first game of the tournament has been played.

"We know some teams are facing difficulties, but this is a hard rule of the tournament. We have no intention of changing the tournament rules.

"If a team only had eight players to choose from before a match, then we might call an emergency meeting. But we have had no requests and we would find it a bit difficult changing now."

BIG MATCH STATS

Head-to-heads

Germany and Turkey have played each other on 17 occasions with Germany winning 11 and losing three.

Turkey are unbeaten in three successive meetings with Germany, recording two wins and one draw.

Germany’s last win over the Turks dates back to May 1992, when they won 1-0 in a friendly encounter.

Their only previous meetings at a major tournament came at the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, when West Germany won 4-1 and 7-2.

Their last meeting in all competitions was a friendly in October 2005, in which Turkey prevailed 2-1 in Istanbul, through goals by Halil Altintop and Nuri Sahin. Oliver Neuville scored the German goal in injury time.

Played five previous European Championship semi-final matches, progressing on four occasions.

Their sole semi-final defeat came in 1988, when West Germany were knocked out by eventual winners the Netherlands (2-1).

Both Germany and Turkey finished second in their group at Euro 2008. The last two European champions (Greece in 2004 and France in 2000) also finished second in their group.

Team facts - Turkey

This is Turkey’s first European Championship semi-final. Their only previous appearance in the last four of a major tournament came at the 2002 World Cup when they were defeated 1-0 by Brazil.

Been in the lead for only nine minutes in their four matches played at Euro 2008. Including injury time, Turkey were in the lead for 2.5 minutes against Switzerland and 6.5 minutes against the Czech Republic.

Player facts - Germany

Bastian Schweinsteiger has a goal, an assist, a yellow card and a red card to his name at Euro 2008. The only other player to have achieved this feat is Denmark’s Klaus Berggreen in 1984.

If he plays, Kevin Kuranyi will win his 50th cap for Germany. He made his international debut in March 2003 in a 1-1 draw against Lithuania.

Michael Ballack has scored in two successive European Championship matches (against Portugal and Austria).

Ballack and Lukas Podolski both need two goals to equal Jurgen Klinsmann’s German record of five in the European Championship.

Ballack has now scored 38 international goals. Only six German players (Muller, Klinsmann, Voller, Rummenigge, Seeler and Klose) have scored more goals.

Player facts - Turkey

By scoring twice at Euro 2008, Arda Turan, Nihat Kahveci and Semih Senturk have all equalled Hakan Sukur as Turkey’s joint top scorers in European Championship history.

If they take to the field, Hamit Altintop will come up against his Bayern Munich team mates Marcell Jansen, Phillip Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski.

If he plays, Gokdeniz Karadeniz will win his 50th cap for Turkey. He made his international debut in a 4-0 defeat against the Czech Republic in April 2003.

35-year-old Rustu Recber is the oldest ever Turkish player in a major tournament (European Championship and World Cup combined). Rustu is Turkey’s most capped player with 117 internationals and also the most experienced Turkish player in the European Championship with eight matches to his name.

Tuncay Sanli, Arda Turan and Emre Asik are suspended for this semi-final. Goalkeeper Volkan Demirel is also suspended pending his appeal.

So far, Turkey have received 15 cards at Euro 2008, only four shy of the competition record set by the Czech Republic in 1996.

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Holland Euro 2008 Squad

Netherlands coach Marco van Basten dropped defender Khalid Boulahrouz on Tuesday from his 23-man Euro 2008 squad.

Van Basten brought in the Sevilla defender last week because Mario Melchiot and Andre Ooijer had minor injuries but the duo should now recover in time.

The Dutch play final warmups against Denmark on Tuesday and Wales on Sunday.

Van Basten’s team have been drawn in Group C with world champions Italy, France and Romania for next month’s Euro 2008.

Holland Euro 2008 Squad

Goalkeepers: Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United), Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax Amsterdam), Henk Timmer (Feyenoord)

Defenders: Wilfred Bouma (Aston Villa), Tim de Cler (Feyenoord), John Heitinga (Ajax Amsterdam), Joris Mathijsen (Hamburg SV), Mario Melchiot (Wigan Athletic), Andre Ooijer (Blackburn Rovers)

Midfielders: Ibrahim Afellay (PSV Eindhoven), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord), Orlando Engelaar (Twente Enschede), Nigel de Jong (Hamburg SV), Wesley Sneijder (Real Madrid), Rafael van der Vaart (Hamburg SV), Demy de Zeeuw (AZ Alkmaar)

Forwards: Ryan Babel (Liverpool), Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Ajax Amsterdam), Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Arjen Robben (Real Madrid), Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (Celtic).

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Kasper Schmeichel-A legend in the making?

Kasper Peter Schmeichel is the son of legendary Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel. Kasper was born on November 5, 1986 in Copenhagen, Denmark and is a Danish goalkeeper who plays for Manchester City where his famous dad ended his footballing career.

Kasper signed for Manchester City on a long term contract in 2002 when he was only 16 years old. He was loaned to numerous lower league clubs to gain experience and playing time and finally made his Manchester City debut against West Ham United in August 2007 as a replacement for the injured Manchester City goalkeeper Issaksson. Kasper’s superb display earned him his first clean sheet in the Premier League and he continued to stand in goal in the match against Derby and Manchester United in which Manchester City won both match with Kasper still keeping his clean sheet.

City’s magnificient run came to an end when they met Arsenal in the Emirates Stadium in a 1-0 loss thanks to a superb goal from Cesc Fabregas. Kasper denied every Arsenal effort and even went on to save a penalty kick from Arsenal striker Robin Van Persie. In the dying minutes of the game Kasper even went all the way across the pitch to help City in a last gasp attack. Kasper managed to connect with the cross for a stong header at goal in which the Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia managed to save with great effort.

Does Kasper Schmeichel has everything to make him a legend in the future? Well, at the moment he is doing everything right. And if Kasper can keep this run of form going, he will definitely be a great goalkeeper like his father. There are even media reports that England are investigating his international status and are trying to persuade him to join the English squad.

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