Posts Tagged ‘Ben Foster’

Fergie – No loan for Foster

Holland want Van der Sar at World Cup

• Goalkeeper willing to open talks about playing in South Africa
• Manchester United also want 39-year-old to extend club career

Edwin van der Sar has been approached about coming out of international retirement to play for Holland in next year’s World Cup, when he will be only four months short of his 40th birthday.

At the same time the Manchester United goalkeeper is giving serious consideration to extending his club career at Old Trafford, and is open-minded about the possibility of staying on another season if he feels he can maintain his high standards.

Van der Sar has not played for Holland since winning his 130th cap, against Norway in a World Cup qualifier 13 months ago. He was playing on that occasion only after a special request from the manager, Bert van Marwijk, because Maarten Stekelenburg and Henk Timmer were both injured, and the Dutch football federation is now hoping that he can be persuaded to return for a second time if there is the promise of playing in South Africa next June.

He has turned down the first approach but there is a sense that he is open to more talks and willing, at the very least, to discuss the idea. He has told associates that he has said no “so far” and is enjoying the benefits from having a free schedule when Holland now meet, spending the last international break on holiday with his family in Dubai. However, the lure of being involved in the fourth World Cup of his 20-year career is strong and Van Marwijk is keen to bring in the two-time Champions League winner and two-time European goalkeeper of the year.

Replacing him has not been easy for Holland and Sir Alex Ferguson faces the same dilemma at Old Trafford, with neither of the Dutchman’s understudies, Ben Foster and Tomasz Kuszczak, making a substantial case to challenge for his place on a permanent basis.

Ferguson has adopted a policy of resting Van der Sar in United’s more inconsequential games and that means a return for Foster tomorrow, when Besiktas visit Old Trafford in a Champions League tie with little resting on it. However, Ferguson admitted he had “no indication” whether Van der Sar would continue.

“He has not decided,” Ferguson said. “He has come back from his [hand] injury well after missing the start of the season. Usually, around Christmas time he will outline his plans, how long he can go on, and we will wait for that. I don’t know his plans and when you get to that age and have a young family you wonder whether he does have plans to go back to Holland. He is a very intelligent man, he understands his body better than anyone and will make the right judgment.”

Ferguson is an admirer of Igor Akinfeev, the CSKA Moscow goalkeeper, but ideally the United manager wants either Kuszczak, or preferably Foster, to show that Van der Sar has a dependable long-term successor. Foster had an erratic start to the season while Van der Sar was injured but he has remained in Fabio Capello’s England plans and Ferguson is not swayed on his opinion that United have England’s best goalkeeper on their payroll.

“I have said that all along and it does not change; the boy has terrific ability,” he said. “He needs big-game experience because he hasn’t got that, but Edwin is 39 so there will be an opportunity one day. He [Foster] and Tomasz Kuczszak will fight it out, I am sure of that.”

With United qualified for the Champions League’s knockout phase, Ferguson intends to field the sort of team tomorrow that would be used in the earlier rounds of the Carling Cup. That means places for Darron Gibson, Danny Welbeck and, possibly, Gabriel Obertan, while the fit-again Park Ji-sung may also be in line to play.

England won’t win World Cup, claims Ferguson

• Brazil ‘are a supplier of great players’ says United manager
• ‘Liverpool would struggle’ to produce young English players

The Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson does not believe England will win the World Cup next summer, even though nine members of his squad are aiming to be in Fabio Capello’s line-up for the finals.

The Scot is instead tipping Brazil to win the trophy for the sixth time. “I can’t see past Brazil, actually,” Ferguson was quoted as saying in the Daily Mail. “They are going to be the ones in South Africa. They are going to be hard to beat. You just have to think of the players they can bring in – they are a supplier of great players.

“Last season, there were 103 Brazilians in the Champions League and only 15 Englishmen. More Scots played in the Champions League last season than English players. I thought the 11/10 on Brazil to beat England was the bet of the century.”

Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Wes Brown and Ben Foster are all likely to go to South Africa while Owen Hargreaves, Michael Owen, Gary Neville and Danny Welbeck are on the preipheries of the squad as Capello attempts to lead England to a World Cup victory abroad for the first time.

“The small number of English players in the Champions League is down to the way the Premier League has developed,” Ferguson said. “The eternal question is at what point the Premier League is going to have to feature more English players.

“We are not too bad at this club in terms of young players coming through but Liverpool would struggle.”

Cudicini thanks fans after leaving hospital

• ‘I want to thank everybody,’ says Tottenham goalkeeper
• Redknapp says players not allowed to ride motorcycles

The Tottenham goalkeeper, Carlo Cudicini, thanked fans for their support after being discharged from hospital following his motorcycle accident, but his club manager Harry Redknapp said the player faces a prolonged recovery from his injuries.

Cudicini underwent surgery last Friday on his right wrist and pelvis after the road accident, with the Spurs manager unaware that the player rode a motorbike.

“I would think it would be the season (he is out for),” Redknapp said. “He’ll be back. It will be a long job but he’ll be back.”

On the subject of riding motorbikes, Harry Redknapp said: “We don’t let them do it. I’ve never even thought about a player riding a motorbike. We didn’t know he had a bike and I’m sure he won’t be riding one again to work. My only concern was his health when I went to visit him.”

Redknapp also ruled out a move for Manchester United’s Ben Foster. He said: “If United wanted to loan him, and I don’t know if they do, it would be a problem for him to go somewhere and not play. He wants to play for England. [Heurelho] Gomes is my first-team goalkeeper and has been fantastic so there is no point in coming here as a No2.”

Cudicini is positive about the outcome of the surgery and thanked well-wishers following the crash. “The current position is that the operations went very well and I am already moving my wrist,” he said. “This morning I met the hand surgeon and he would like to see me again on 18 December and, if everything is okay, I will no longer need any protection on the right wrist and I will be able to move it like the other one.

“Regarding the pelvis, I am still waiting to see the surgeon later on, but from what he said to me last time he would like to check on me every month and, at the end of the 12 weeks, now 11, I will be able to move without the crutches and free to begin my preparations.”

“You don’t want to have an accident like this to check out how many people love you. But I have to say that the response has been unbelievable and I have received many emails and cards from Tottenham and Chelsea fans, people who work at both clubs, and also from people who don’t support Tottenham or Chelsea. All in all it has been a touching reaction from people who support football in general.

“I want to thank everybody because, for sure, it has made me feel much, much better.”

Brazil avoid tug of war with Man City over Robinho

The Brazil coach is likely to keep his Manchester City forward out of the firing line against Oman

Even if Dunga wakes up today to read more warnings from Manchester City and Mark Hughes, Robinho should be just a spectator when Brazil help celebrate the 69th birthday of Sultan Qaboos bin Said al-Said by facing Oman and collecting a cheque for US$3m (£1.8m).

Although the striker, who has been on the sidelines since September, took part in the quick kickabout organised at Brazil’s practice session at the stadium named after the monarch, he has said again that he needs at least another week to be ready for action.

Sources at seleção speculated that Dunga might send Robinho on for five minutes just to make a point to City, whom the Brazilian manager has accused of disrespect for sending their team doctor Jamie Butler to Doha ahead of Saturday’s friendly against England to try to obtain the player’s release. However, Dunga is trying to avoid a tug of war between club and country, which he made clear by thanking Milan and Lyon for releasing their defenders Thiago Silva and Cris to replace the injured Luisão and Juan for the games against England and Oman.

Another factor pointing towards moderation is that Dunga could certainly do without another problem upfront at a time when Brazil are suffering from a striker scarcity. Although Luís Fabiano has been scoring goals galore, despite his penalty miss against England, the second spot in the attack is still open.

Nilmar, who headed past the England goalkeeper Ben Foster for his fifth goal in three matches for Brazil, is gaining ground, but Adriano and Porto’s Hulk are struggling to make a stronger point for inclusion in the squad. Besides, Robinho is the most capped player under Dunga, who has never ceased to praise the Eastklands striker’s commitment to his country.

Yesterday, Robinho zoomed past a frantic media scrum at the entrance of the Sultan Qaboos stadium and, like last week, trained separately by jogging and doing stretching exercises while the rest of his Brazil team-mates sweated it out on drills and dead-ball simulations.