Archive for July, 2009

Under-19s one match away from ending drought

A second age-group European final in as many months augurs well for the future of England’s senior team

In Donetsk tomorrow afternoon a group of England footballers may encounter the strangest of feelings. It is known as the winning sensation, and if Brian Eastwick’s Under-19 team defeat the hosts Ukraine in the final of the European Championship it will actually be the second time in eight days England have won a trophy, following the U19 women’s triumph in Belarus last Sunday. Take away that victory, though, and the last occasion England won a major international tournament was when Paul Scholes’s U18 vintage claimed the 1993 European Championship.

Eastwick’s side, which includes Manchester United’s Danny Welbeck, Everton’s Dan Gosling and Aston Villa’s Nathan Delfouneso, have been hugely impressive in Ukraine. They recovered from a patchy start against France yesterday’s semi-final to convincingly win 3–1, courtesy of Delfouneso’s twin extra-time strikes – a victory that followed on from a 7–1 rout of Slovenia in the previous round. With Stuart Pearce’s U21 team also reaching the final of their European Championship last month in Sweden, before being routed 4–0 by Germany, it may be a moment to believe in a happy future for the senior England team. And for English players at Premier League clubs, where opportunities for emerging talent are particularly rare due to the influx of young foreign footballers.

Ray Clemence, the Football Association’s head of England Under-16 to 20 age groups, is certainly optimistic, and believes that this summer’s success has lifted everyone within the governing body. “There’s a feelgood factor inside the FA that we’re getting to semi-finals and finals. I’ve been out to Ukraine for the first two games, Stuart Pearce came out for one, Sir Trevor Brooking [director of football development] is out there now,” says Clemence, who regularly reports to England’s senior head coach, Fabio Capello, regarding the progression of young players.

“It’s my job to look at the development teams, and certainly we look very intently at that because we’re always searchingfor the next Theo Walcott, if you like, to step out of the shadows and say, ‘hey actually, I can play in the big team.’ Theo’s come in from nowhere and done well for us. What Fabio has done is make everyone think they have a chance.”

Eastwick, a former academy director at Newcastle United and Birmingham City, agrees. “I think international football is different to club football, certainly for young players. My personal view is that it is a great experience for them to play against different countries, different styles of football and different tactics, which can give you different problems. If they are to go on and be top international players in the future, these are the type of circumstances that they will have to deal with if they are to play at the very highest level. That is why it is such a terrific experience for all of the players to be here.”

England emerged from their group unbeaten, and winners courtesy of goal difference. During that preliminary stage Eastwick’s team also faced Ukraine, sharing a 2–2 draw in which Gosling and Arsenal’s Henri Lansbury scored. Clemence believes that experience will give the team an edge tomorrow, and also understands how important it is for the Under-19s to win the competition. “The next step is to win something,” says Clemence. “That’s what we all want to do. But at least we’re heading in the direction we want to go in.”

Brooking is a passionate advocate of young English players being offered a chance to play for their clubs. “It’s a really exciting time and we just hope we can go on and win it now,” he says. “It has been a great experience out here for all of the players who have responded to the challenge. You always want your teams to get to the tournament stages because that’s where you experience all the quick flurry of games and different styles of play and experience what it’s like. There aren’t many chances to play in semi-finals and finals, so this is something special for them.

“They probably don’t realise now, but not many players get the chance to do it and those who have can still probably count on one hand the number of finals and semi-finals they’ve played in. Whilst they’re young players now, in 15 or 20 years’ time, when they’re coming towards the end of their careers, they’ll look back on this as a highlight.”

Heskey sent off as Peace Cup loses its friendliness

• Striker sent off for pushing after scoring opener
• Villa have six more booked in Peace Cup semi-final

Aston Villa’s progress to the Peace Cup final tonight was marred by another sending-off as Emile Heskey received a straight red card during an ill-tempered 2-1 victory over Porto in which six of the Midlands club’s players were booked. The England international was dismissed after he clashed with Fucile, the Porto central defender, midway through the second half and he now faces the threat of a possible suspension for the start of the domestic campaign.

Heskey admitted afterwards that he pushed the Porto player but he claimed that he had been struck with a flailing arm moments earlier. Fucile remained prone for a few seconds and a mêlée ensued after Ashley Young played on and attempted to add a third Villa goal before Michael Koukoulakis, the Greek referee, stopped play. Heskey was promptly dismissed, meaning that Villa were forced to play with 10 men for the final 22 minutes.

“There were a lot of silly things going on all evening,” said Heskey, who scored Villa’s first goal before Steve Sidwell added a second. “The Porto player swung an arm at me. I reacted and probably shouldn’t have. I made contact with him. I pushed him. But he got up off the floor straight away to go after Youngy. I’ll miss the final but I don’t think it will be carried over to the Premier League.”

Villa’s mood was not helped by the tournament organisers’ refusal to allow Martin O’Neill, who was banned from the touchline following his sending off against Atlante on Wednesday, access to the changing room until after the final whistle. Although Porto pulled a goal back in stoppage time, when Hulk converted from the penalty spot, Villa held on to reach the final in Seville tomorrow in what will be their third match in five days.

Villa will face Juventus in the final after the Italian side beat Real Madrid 2-1 in the other semi-final.

Petrov’s shoulder injury not as bad as first feared

• Aston Villa confident he will be ready for start of season
• John Carew keen to stay at Villa Park

Aston Villa have not given up hope that Stilian Petrov could be available for the start of the Premier League season after scans revealed the midfielder suffered no serious damage when he dislocated his shoulder on Wednesday night. The Bulgarian returned to the Midlands yesterday so that medical staff could determine the severity of the injury but it is understood that the results were more encouraging than Villa had expected.

Petrov will continue to be assessed over the next week or so, with Villa keen to ensure the injury has healed and establish that there is no risk of the shoulder popping out again. Martin O’Neill, however, has been lifted by the initial reports and the Villa manager believes that there is an outside chance Petrov could return in time to feature against Wigan Athletic when the season gets under way in a fortnight’s time.

Petrov is also upbeat. “There’s no swelling there,” he said. “It’s just come out and popped in. You know with shoulders sometimes a lot of players can pop them and be in a lot of pain and then a few weeks later it’s fine and you can play again. With me it’s one of those ones where we have to wait and see. Everybody’s frustrated when they’re injured but that’s part of the game and I’ll accept these things. I’ll be working hard, I’ll be fit again and I’ll be back.”

John Carew, meanwhile, has given Villa a boost by saying that he remains fully committed to the club despite speculation surrounding his future. The Norway international has been linked with several clubs, including Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City, but he revealed that he feels settled at Villa and also suggested he would be interested in staying beyond the end of his current contract, which runs until 2012.

“There will always be speculation,” said Carew. “But I am really, really happy and I haven’t thought about anything else. I’m happy in the Premier League and it’s been going really well for me. The league is popular in my own country and it’s close to home. There are a lot of things about being in Birmingham and England that make it feel like home. I have a good feeling here and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve got two years on my contract and I’d be happy to stay beyond that.”

Carew is also optimistic about the new campaign despite his concerns about the impact of Gareth Barry’s departure. “He is a big loss and it’s going to be very difficult to replace him,” said the striker. He remains confident, however, that Villa can improve on back-to-back sixth-placed finishes providing there is an influx of new talent. “We need more new players in various positions and that will make us stronger over a long period. I am sure we’ll bring in a lot more quality.”

Tottenham 3-0 Hull City

Tottenham Hotspur 3–0 Hull City

Robbie Keane scored twice as Tottenham Hotspur beat Hull City 3–0 in the final of the Premier League’s Asia Trophy in Beijing. Aaron Lennon scored Tottenham’s third goal as manager Harry Redknapp won the biennial preseason tournament for the second time, having led Portsmouth to victory in Hong Kong in 2007.

Keane gave Spurs the lead in the 17th minute, taking Luka Modric’s pass on his chest before firing a powerful shot past the Hull goalkeeper, Tony Warner. There was further disappointment for Warner in the 68th minute when he was adjudged to have brought Jermain Defoe down in the area. Keane calmly stroked the spot kick home.

There was not much Warner could do about the third goal, however, with Kyle Naughton’s cross leaving Lennon unmarked at the far post.

West Ham earlier beat a second-string Beijing Guoan side 2–0, with late goals from Danny Gabbidon and Zavon Hines. The Chinese league leaders contained the visitors until Gabbidon headed in from a corner with 10 minutes to go. Hines scored with a solo effort in the last few seconds.

There was a minute’s silence before each match, in memory of the former England manager Sir Bobby Robson, who died today at the age of 76.

Bruce expresses sympathy for Bent

• Manager believes he only has a ‘50-50′ chance of signing Bent
• ‘Footballers aren’t objects,’ says Sunderland manager

Steve Bruce has expressed sympathy for Darren Bent after the Tottenham Hotspur striker reportedly used the internet social networking service Twitter to vent his frustration at the delay over his proposed move to Sunderland. Bruce, who said he was unaware of Bent’s activities, said a deal had appeared close earlier in the week but the Sunderland manager now believes there is only a “50-50″ chance of the transfer going ahead.

“Someone says Darren has been twittering,” Bruce told the Sunderland Echo. “I don’t even know what that is, but I have seen a few things in the papers about it. Footballers aren’t just objects. There’s a human being in this who is obviously caught up in the middle and wants his future sorted out. The situation at the moment is that the clubs are still talking.

“We thought we had a deal done a couple of days ago and it has not quite materialised. We’re still hopeful that we can agree a fee with Spurs, but at the moment there’s a couple of other clubs showing an interest. We will do our utmost to get the deal over the line. I would say I was really confident that would happen a couple of days ago, but now I’d say it’s 50-50.”

Bruce has had some success in the transfer market this summer, however. Lorik Cana is his most high-profile acquisition and the Albania international has said that he turned down interest from Everton, Hamburg and Werder Bremen to join Sunderland from Marseille.

“I had interest from Germany and we were talking, but then I had contacts with clubs in England and I knew this was the best championship in the world,” said Cana. “Everton know me very well. I have had interest from them in other years and might have come to England.

“We were talking, but Sunderland came in and I had a good feeling when I spoke to Steve Bruce. Sunderland wanted to make things happen quickly and that made me feel wanted by the club very much. I can see from the facilities and support that Sunderland has that there are great possibilities here so I look forward to the challenge.”

Bruce is also reported to want the Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh but to be angry at comments from Les Girondins’ coach, Laurent Blanc, and president, Jean-Louis Triaud, that Sunderland are not a big enough club.

“I think it’s insulting to us to say things like that. I wouldn’t dream of saying that about any club,” said Bruce. “This is a big enough club for any player who wants to do well and we’ve a far bigger support than Bordeaux, so I’m not really sure where they’re coming from.”