Low: First team football essential
Low: First team football essential
(PA) Monday 4 January 2010
Germany coach Joachim Low has warned candidates for his FIFA World Cup™ squad they will have to be playing regular first team football if they are to be considered next summer.
Speaking to the Welt am Sonntag newspaper, Low explained how he had learnt from the mistake he made at UEFA EURO 2008 in nominating Real Madrid defender Christoph Metzelder despite the fact he had spent much of the latter stages of the season injured. The central defender never managed to reach his best form during the competition and Low will not make the same mistake again.
"I won't call up anybody who has not been playing regularly for their side in the months building up to the tournament," he said. "That is something I have learned from EURO 2008. This is going to be a World Cup which will be played at a very high pace."
However, fringe players may still be given the chance to sneak into the squad at the last minute as Low expects to use every single hour available to him before submitting his 23-man squad on 5 June. The Germany squad will get together in mid-May and spend over a fortnight in a training camp in Italy before flying out to South Africa on 6 June.
I won't call up anybody who has not been playing regularly for their side in the months building up to the tournament.Joachim Low
And Low is contemplating naming a larger squad for that training camp before discarding a few players just a day before departure. "It is imaginable that we will do that, but it depends on the situation," said Low, who left Marko Marin, Patrick Helmes and Jermaine Jones out of his EURO 2008 squad after a similar trial.
"We may have been criticised for this last time, but we were convinced that it was necessary. Maybe there are players we are not fully convinced about, or maybe we want to get to know them better and see their form once again."
One player Low appears to be totally convinced about is Werder Bremen's Mesut Ozil. The 21-year-old has already booked his place in the squad, as long as he can steer clear of injury. "He is already important for us and he is going to get even more important," said Low. "To have such a player at his age is a stroke of luck."
On the other hand, Low has ruled out a return for Kevin Kuranyi, despite a clamour for the Schalke striker to be restored to the squad. Kuranyi's international career was brought to an end after he walked out on the national team at half-time of their FIFA World Cup qualifier against Russia last year and, despite his excellent form in the Bundesliga, Low has confirmed there is no way back.
"Kevin took the decision to leave the team prematurely back then against Russia and he knew of the consequences," affirmed Low. "We have a clear line that I will not be budging from. Nevertheless, I am happy that things are going so well for him at Schalke right now."
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New blow for Ribery
New blow for Ribery
PA) Monday 4 January 2010
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Bayern Munich and France star Franck Ribery has suffered another injury setback.
Ribery played a part in just six Bundesliga matches during the first half of the 2009/10 season, lasting the whole 90 minutes only once due to a string of injuries.
His knee and toe caused the most frequent problems and it is the latter which has forced him to miss the first session of Bayern's winter training camp in Dubai today.
Bayern coach Louis van Gaal told the club's official website: "It is practically incredible and very bitter for the coach and the team. But we cannot change it. We hope that the medical department works hard and he returns as quickly as possible."
Ribery had joined the rest of his team-mates for a jog around Munich yesterday before the flight to the United Arab Emirates, but upon arrival in Dubai both of his big toes were swollen.
Holes were drilled into the toenails to release an accumulation of blood and relieve the pain in a bid to get the 26-year-old back on his feet as soon as possible
Pandev returns to Inter Milan
Pandev returns to Inter Milan
Pandev returns to Inter Milan(AFP) Monday 4 January 2010
Goran Pandev is set to help fill the gap left at Inter Milan by Samuel Eto'o's departure for the CAF African Nations Cup, after the Serie A leaders said Monday that the Macedonia international has rejoined them on a four-and-a-half-year deal.
The inventive forward moves to Inter as a free agent, having succeeded in a legal challenge to liberate himself of his contract with Lazio last month because he had been frozen out at the Rome side for making a transfer request in the summer.
It is a return to the club he first signed for in 2001, although he never played for them in Serie A. He went to Lazio in 2004 as part of the deal to send Dejan Stankovic the other way after loan stints at Spezia and Ancona.
"FC Internazionale announces that Goran Pandev joined the club on a permanent deal this morning," the club said in a statement. "The Macedonian striker has signed a contract until 30 June 2014."
Italian media reported that Pandev has a good chance of making his league debut for Inter in Wednesday's game at Chievo Verona.
Eto'o's spell away with the Cameroon national team this month leaves Jose Mourinho with just two other forwards, Diego Milito and Mario Balotelli, as the club have loaned Honduran David Suazo to Genoa and Austrian Marko Arnautovic does not seem to figure in the Portuguese coach's thinking.
Pandev could be used on the wing in Verona though, as Mourinho is short of midfielders because of Dejan Stankovic's and Thiago Motta's suspensions.
