England manager Fabio Capello has told David Beckham he will be at the World Cup as long as he is fit and playing regularly.
The ex-England captain is set to start his second loan spell with AC Milan and Capello expects the 34-year-old Los Angeles Galaxy star to have another successful stint in Serie A.
Beckham has played in the last three World Cups and could make it four in a row when Capello names his squad for South Africa at the end of the season.
The Italian said: ‘Certainly (I’ll call up Beckham) if he is playing and physically fit.
‘I don’t look at age, I look at qualities and Beckham has lots. He’s serious, he’s a great professional and the World Cup is incredibly important to him.
He added in La Gazzetta dello Sport: ‘He will do well (at Milan). I have no doubt about it. David is a player with his head straight.’
Capello also hailed the appointment of his fellow Italian Roberto Mancini at Manchester City.
‘It’s a reason for pride for our football,’ he said. ‘(They choose Italians because) we bring ideas, desire for new things, experiences.’ Read more…
Germany captain Michael Ballack says his side are not among the favourites to win next year’s World Cup.
Their group also includes Australia, Serbia and Ghana and the 33-year-old Chelsea star believes getting through that will be a challenge in itself.
“We do not have the consistency or strength in depth in the squad,” Ballack told Kicker magazine.
“We have been too weak, particularly in friendlies, to be able to say that we have the class to beat everybody else.”
That said, Germany have a well-deserved reputation as high achievers at the World Cup, whether they have the best players or not.
West Germany won the trophy in 1954, 1974 and 1990, while the unified country were runners-up in 2002 and third on home soil in 2006 when many pointed to a lack of high-quality players. Read more…
The big story from this evening’s 2010 World Cup draw in Cape Town came from Group G where Brazil, Ivory Coast, and Portugal were positioned together along with North Korea in the ‘Group of Death’. Here it is the comment of tke Manager’s about the draw :
Dunga, Brazil coach
I don’t like all that ‘Group of Death’ stuff. If you look at the draw, you’ll see that all the groups, perhaps with the exception of Spain’s, are very even. North Korea are, in theory, a weaker side, but it’s tricky playing against a team you don’t know much about. For us, our opening game is the most difficult one. Then it will be our second game and so on. Côte d’Ivoire are going to make us work very hard. Most of their players are at big European clubs and they have [Didier] Drogba, who is one of the world’s best strikers. African teams no longer fit with people’s preconceptions; they’ve allied competitiveness to their technical ability. And of course we’ve got a huge rivalry with Portugal. Read more…
The 32 teams participating at next year’s FIFA World Cup™ finals discovered their fate this evening when the Final Draw for South Africa 2010 took place in Cape Town.
While South Africans learned that the host nation’s Opening Match on 11 June would be played against Mexico at Soccer City, it was the Group D lineup which caused arguably the biggest stir. Germany, Australia, Serbia and Ghana will battle it out for two qualifying places for the Round of 16, meaning two nations with passionate support will depart the tournament early. There could be a high-profile casualty from Group G too, after Brazil, Korea DPR, Côte d’Ivoire, Portugal were drawn together.
An estimated global television audience of 200 million joined the 2,000 invited guests in the Draw Hall in watching the colourful and entertaining ceremony unfold. With African sporting stars such as athlete Haile Gebreselassie, rugby player John Smit, cricketer Makhaya Ntini, and footballers Matthew Booth and Simphiwe Dludlu assisting with the draw, along with England’s David Beckham, it was always going to be an exhilarating occasion, but the undoubted centrepiece came when the eight groups were revealed. Read more…
England, go into the World Cup 2010 draw as one of the eight top seeds but Beckham insists they should not be concerned about who will end up in their group.
The England midfield, who is currently in Cape Town promoting England’s 2018 World Cup bid, said: “It’s always good to be seeded and be up there with the best teams in the world but in the World Cup it’s not about staying away from certain teams.
“If you want to go all the way in the competition you have to come up against them at some point. You are going to have to beat the best teams and the best players so it doesn’t really matter when you come up against them.”
England head coach Fabio Capello echoed Beckham’s sentiments but also said he believes an African side will make it to the semi-finals in South Africa next summer.
“I think about the Africans and I believe this will be one of the most important World Cups for the African teams,” he said. Read more…
England manager Fabio Capello insists he is not afraid if the Three Lions find themselves facing a ‘Group of Death’ ahead of Friday night’s draw for the World Cup finals.
England were named as one of the eight top seeds for the draw, and so will avoid having to play some of the bigger names such as favourites Brazil, holders Italy and European champions Spain in the group stages.
The likes of Portugal and France, however, are among the unseeded European teams who could end up in England’s group, along with some tough African teams such as Ghana and the Ivory Coast.
But speaking ahead of the draw, Capello insisted that he was not worried about the potential opponents facing his side, and insisted England would have to be prepared to face every team. Read more…
The Final Draw of the FIFA World Cup™ is an occasion that the fans of the 32 qualifying nations and football lovers in general always look forward to, though the same cannot be said of the national coaches involved. That same blend of anticipation and dread will be in evidence once more on Friday evening when the Final Draw of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa takes place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
The show gets under way at 19.00 (local time) and no matter who gets drawn with who, there are sure to be some coaches smiling at their good fortune and others who might be more inclined to burst into tears.
The whole of South Africa has been eagerly awaiting this moment since it was given the honour of being the first African country to organise the finals in May 2004. The tournament hosts will be hoping that actress Charlize Theron, one of the country’s best-known ambassadors, will bring them luck when she joins FIFA General Secretary Jerome Valcke in presenting the Final Draw.
Bafana Bafana are one of the seeded teams and will be in good company in Pot 1, where they will be joined by five former winners of the competition with 15 wins between them: Brazil (5), Italy (4), Germany (3), Argentina (2) and England (1). Completing the elite octet are Spain and Netherlands. Read more…
Thierry Henry considered ending his international career in the wake of his handball controversy against the Republic of Ireland.
The France striker was upset at the immediate lack of backing from the French Football Federation and claimed only the support of his family ensured he continued with Les Bleus.
Former Arsenal captain Henry was ready to turn his back on the 2010 World Cup finals - many people feel that FIFA should ban him from playing in South Africa after his handball enabled William Gallas to score the goal that sent France through.
He said: ‘Maybe I should not have celebrated the goal as I did but it was instinctive and uncontrollable. Yes, I regret it but after the game and even the next day I felt truly alone. Read more…
Diego Milito might prefer Lionel Messi to take no risks with his groin injury this week and to miss FC Barcelona’s enthralling Matchday 5 meeting with FC Internazionale Milano, noting that his Argentina team-mate is “the best, most decisive player in the world”.
Quick recovery
The Inter striker knows Messi well from their time together with Argentina, and is well aware of the damage he can do in the UEFA Champions League. Barça’s main man picked up a minor groin strain in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Athletic Club Bilbao and his presence in what could be a decisive Group F meeting will remain in doubt until kick-off. Milito wishes Messi a quick recovery but knows that his participation or absence could be a deciding factor.
‘Extraordinary’
“Without a doubt Messi is the best, most decisive player in the world,” argued the Inter striker, who has scored nine goals in thirteen matches in all competitions this season. “Leo can win a game on his own at any moment because he’s extraordinary. Playing with him every weekend must be a joy Read more…
