luni, 31 mai 2010

Soccer-World-France's Henry faces life as a substitute

France's captain and most prolific scorer Thierry Henry faces the once inconceivable prospect of being a substitute at the World Cup for the country he has graced for over a decade.

The only player in the squad who was part of the team's 1998 World Cup triumph, the 32-year-old appears set to lose his place up front in coach Raymond Domenech's first team to Nicolas Anelka and the captain's arm-band to left back Patrice Evra.

Prior to naming his squad for the June 11-July 11 finals in South Africa, Domenech endorsed Henry as a trusted 'great player', yet has started him on the bench for France's two World Cup warm-ups against Costa Rica and Tunisia.

Henry, despite boasting a record 51 goals in 120 appearances and standing on the verge of becoming the first France player to take part in four World Cups, appears to be paying the price after suffering a series of setbacks.

Pushed on the fringes at Barcelona where he rarely started a game this year, Henry has also been marked by the controversy sparked by his handball in a playoff win over Ireland last November.

Henry, until that day never considered a cheat, handled the ball in the build-up to the decisive goal that sent France through to the finals, sparking one of the biggest outcries in the competition's history.

LEADING PLAYER

"I am lucky to play with Titi at club level and it's true that the last few months have been complicated for him," defender Eric Abidal, Henry's team mate at Barca, told reporters at France's training camp in Tunisia.

"He's been thinking about the World Cup and getting ready for it, hoping it would give him a breath of fresh air. He's a leading player in our group and we know we can count on him."

Henry has not complained after being left out of the starting line-up twice, even congratulating Evra after he wore the armband in a 2-1 win over Costa Rica last week, but has also been careful to avoid the media.

"The coach has made choices that can be difficult to accept but Titi is still ready to help out," Abidal said of Henry's uncomfortable situation.

Beloved of French fans for lifting the team out of tight spots and fondly remembered at Arsenal where he scored 226 goals during his eight-year spell at the London club, Henry could still make an impact at the World Cup.

For now, he faces the task of recapturing his scoring instinct from back-stage, instead of being the front-man.

"I don't see any first-choice players or substitutes," Domenech said of his decision to leave Henry on the bench.

"We're a group. Everybody must remain under pressure and available to help."

Soccer-Chile 3 Israel 0 - international friendly result

Chile 3 Israel 0 - international friendly result.

At Estadio Municipal, Chillan.

Scorers: Humberto Suazo 19, Alexis Sanchez 49, Rodrigo Tello 91.

Capello knows his men for South Africa

Fabio Capello has confirmed he knows the names of the players who will carry England's World Cup hopes in South Africa - and they are the same ones he had in mind when he arrived in Austria a fortnight ago.

Capello will not phone the unlucky seven to be axed until Tuesday morning, and has no intention of giving any clues publicly before then. But, providing the medical update on Gareth Barry confirms the Manchester City midfielder will have recovered from his ankle injury by the time England start training again after their Group C opener against the United States on June 12, Capello's mind is made up.

"I know the 22 players who are in mind. They are the same 22 that I decided last week. Nothing has changed," he said.

"We have to wait for Gareth Barry. We will decide on him after we have had the final check to see how long it will be before he can train with us. We have to know everything about this situation but I am not disappointed my mind is still the same."

Although Capello is keeping the exact make-up of his squad secret, there are a couple of certainties.

Neither Michael Dawson nor Scott Parker had played a single minute for Capello during the Italian's two-and-a-half-year reign as England coach prior to the two-week Austrian training camp. And as they still have not been involved, they can book their summer holidays with a large degree of confidence.

Neither Tom Huddlestone nor Darren Bent took the chances afforded to them by a starting berth on Sunday afternoon and were replaced at half-time, so they too are likely to miss out.

Stephen Warnock is highly unlikely to displace Leighton Baines as second choice at left-back, which leaves Adam Johnson, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Joe Cole scrapping over the remaining spot.

And, listening to Capello, Cole's second-half cameo, when he shone more than Wright-Phillips, might have done the job.

"I know Joe Cole very well. He is in a good moment. He is fresh because he did not play a lot of games. Joe Cole is good. He played very well in the second half," said Capello.

Different tournament, same England

At least Sunday's performance against Japan helped dampen the frenzy that always seems to accompany England's departure to a major tournament.

Now, even the most optimistic England fan must know that Fabio Capello's side have absolutely no chance of winning the World Cup.

Victory over their fellow qualifiers in Graz could not mask a poor display that, like the game against Mexico last week, posed more questions than found answers, and exposed yet more frailties.

And, unfortunately, it also served to reopen the great Steven Gerrard-Frank Lampard debate once again.

With just 10 days to the start of the World Cup in South Africa, the timing could not be worse. Capello has had 27 months to get his tactics sorted, yet in England's final outing before the big kick-off against the US, he opted to return a central midfield pairing not seen since the infamous Wally with the Brolly night.

Capello himself has already said he does not think the combination is viable - ED can only assume that is why the Italian has always resisted the urge to play them together - yet there he was, sending on Gerrard to replace Tom Huddlestone and team up with Lampard in that position for the first time in his 24 games in charge.

England did look a far better side after the break, but let's put things into a bit of perspective here. First, it couldn't have been much worse than the first half. Second, this was Japan, a team ranked 45th in the world, and not Spain, Brazil, Argentina, or even the USA. And England had to rely on two own-goals to turn the result around.

ED is loath to subscribe to the view that finally, after all this time, Gerrard and Lampard have worked out how to play together and that England will now steamroller their way to glory in South Africa.

How can things have clicked so suddenly? Sven-Goran Eriksson tried it time and again, always with the same lack of success. And there is nothing to suggest it will be any different this time around - 45 minutes against mediocre opposition in a warm-up game certainly does not provide compelling evidence.

Of course, they only played there together because Gareth Barry is crocked; the situation would be very much different if the Manchester City man was fit.

Fortunately, Capello's refusal to give Scott Parker a run-out in Austria revealed his confidence in Barry's powers of recovery. Let's just hope that is the case and that all this hoo-ha proves academic.

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The game will have left Capello with another poser - can he put faith in Lampard from the spot?

His second-half miss made it two successive failures from 12 yards - most un-Lampard like, and far from the ideal preparation with the inevitable quarter-final shoot-out on the horizon.

Mind over matter counts in high pressure penalty situations and the question now has to be: will Lampard himself be confident in his own ability to score from the spot? ED suggests not, especially when you consider his nationality.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY: Fabio Capello: "I know Joe Cole very well. He is in a good moment. He is fresh because he did not play a lot of games. Joe Cole is good. He played very well in the second half." Looks like the Chelsea midfielder has won a place on the plane after providing the one positive to be taken from the game with a display of skill and invention - everything that was lacking from the 45 minutes before his introduction. Indeed, England's second-half improvement probably had as much to do with his entrance than anything else.

FOREIGN VIEW: Disillusioned with how things are going in the England camp? Then spare a thought for our Gallic brothers from across the Channel. They may have bonded as a squad with recent buggy races and hikes up mountains, but on the pitch France are still struggling. And a dour 1-1 draw has done nothing to convince the French public that the glory days of '98 are to be revisited any time soon. 'One step backwards' reads today's front-page headline in L'Equipe.
COMING UP: World Cup hosts South Africa play Guatemala in today's must-follow game (kick-off 19:30), but before that Paul Parker will be giving his thoughts on England's performance against Japan, we'll have the updated World Cup Power Rankings, Behind Enemy Lines and the England squad barometer, and the latest instalment of the World Cup Dream Team will be published.

World Cup 2010 - Countdown: Sven's Ivory Coast

IVORY COAST

World Cup record:

Previous appearances in finals: One

Best performance: Group stages in 2006

Coach: Sven-Goran Eriksson took over the reigns with his team already qualified for the World Cup. Vastly experienced at club level, most notably with Lazio but also with Benfica, Roma, Sampdoria and Manchester City, the Swede has also managed twice at international level - with England and Mexico. Svennis is a big-name and has already boosted the image and ego of Ivorian football but just what he can achieve with less than a month of preparation remains to be seen.i

Key players:

Didier Drogba (Chelsea) Age: 32. Position: Striker. With 40 goals in 60 international appearances, Drogba has proven vital for his country. He took them to the final of the 2006 African Nations Cup and now two World Cup tournaments, although he missed half of the 2010 qualifiers through injury. At club level, he has won both league and cup honours in England with Chelsea, who signed him from Olympique Marseille.

Salomon Kalou (Chelsea) Age: 24. Position: Striker. As an exciting teenage talent with Feyenoord, Kalou was the subject of a lengthy, but ultimately unsuccessful, bid to win Dutch nationality before the 2006 World Cup. Eventually debuted for the Ivorians, where elder brother Bonaventure had previously been captain.

Yaya Toure (Barcelona) Age: 26. Position: Midfield. A massive physical presence in the centre of midfield, Toure has taken a circuitous route through clubs in five different countries before signing for European champions Barcelona two years ago.

FIFA world ranking May 2010: 27th

How they qualified: The Ivorians finished qualification without defeat, going through 12 matches in two group phases and progressing comfortably. The death of at least 19 people in a stampede at their home stadium in Abidjan in March ahead of a qualifier cast a dark shadow over their campaign.

Prospects: They are arguably the strongest of the African teams and will carry the hopes of an expectant continent, but rely too much on Drogba for inspiration. There are also several weaknesses in key positions, which could cost them but with a few lucky breaks, the Elephants could well become the first African side to advance past the last eight at a World Cup.

Expert view: "Drogba is a very good striker. Powerful, fast, opportunistic, he is an important asset in the team. But you do not win games with one player, even if he sometimes seems that way. If the Ivory Coast was dependent on a single player, they would never have qualified for the World Cup." Jean-Marc Guillou, who was beaten to the coach's job by Eriksson.

Bookmakers' odds: 40-1

Squad: (29): Goalkeepers: Vincent Angban (ASEC Abidjan), Boubacar Barry (Lokeren), Aristides Zogbo (Maccabi Netanya), Daniel Yeboah (ASEC Abidjan); Defenders: Souleymane Bamba (Hibernian), Arthur Boka (VfB Stuttgart), Benjamin Brou Angoua (Valenciennes), Guy Demel (Hamburg SV), Emmanuel Eboue (Arsenal), Abdoulaye Meite (West Bromwich Albion), Steve Gohouri (Wigan Athletic), Siaka Tiene (Valenciennes), Kolo Toure (Manchester City); Midfielders: Emerse Fae (Nantes), Jean-Jacques Gosso Gosso (Monaco), Abdelkader Keita (Galatasaray), Emmanuel Kone (International Curtea Arges), Gervais Yao Kouassi (Lille), Christian Koffi Ndri (Sevilla), Cheik Ismael Tiote (Twente Enschede), Yaya Toure (Barcelona), Gilles Yapi Yapo (Young Boys Berne), Didier Zokora (Sevilla); Forwards: Kanga Akale (Racing Lens), Aruna Dindane (Racing Lens), Seydou Doumbia (Young Boys Berne), Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Salomon Kalou (Chelsea), Bakary Kone (Marseille).

Soccer-World-Eriksson seeks better organisation from Ivory Coast

New coach Sven-Goran Eriksson knew that harnessing Ivory Coast's talents into an organised team would be his biggest challenge and the 2-2 draw with Paraguay has only strengthened his convictions.

The former England manager's concerns over a lack of tactical discipline were justified as his team blew a two-goal lead in the last 15 minutes against the feisty South Americans in Sunday's World Cup warm-up, his first match in charge.

"It's all about organisation, to defend well together, to attack well together and we're working every day on that, and hopefully it will get better and better," said the Swede, who replaced Vahid Halilhodzic at the end of March and has only had one week with his full squad.

"Individually, we have a lot of good footballers and it's up to me and them to put them together, to get a working unit together.

"In the last half hour, we didn't play as good as a team as we did for the first half and if you lose the ball in dangerous positions too often, then you're going to get punished.

"I don't think it was concentration, we lost organisation, we tried to run and finish individually and we gave Paraguay lots of chances to counter-attack and we have to work on that.

"If you lose the ball in dangerous positions too often, at the end they will punish you."

DIFFICULT GROUP

Eriksson has to drop seven of his 30-man provisional squad by Tuesday and then has one more match, against Japan in Switzerland on Thursday, to put his ideas into practice.

After that, his team will be plunged into arguably the most difficult group at the World Cup as they face Portugal, North Korea and Brazil.

"From what I've seen in training and during one hour today, I'm very confident," Eriksson added.

"The other three teams are all strong, including North Korea, but we have a good team as well.

"I like it, it's a big challenge, the time is shot and Tuesday morning I have to tell seven to go home. It's not pleasant but that's a fact."

"I think we had a good game. We needed that," forward Didier Drogba, who scored the first goal from a free kick, told reporters.

"We're still working and we still have some things to change. We have two weeks to work."

The Chelsea striker added: "I think everybody understands the message the coach is trying to deliver.

"It's too early to speak about what he Eriksson has done, we just listen and try to do what he is telling us in terms of team spirit and where he wants us to play. We're trying to apply this on the pitch."

Soccer-World-Ghana hope Mensah gamble is stroke of genius

Ghana have gambled on the fitness of Sunderland defender John Mensah and included the centre back in their final 23-man squad for the World Cup.

Coach Milovan Rajevac has named Mesnah for the tournament starting on June 11 in South Africa despite a run of injuries over the last year and concern over a ligament strain suffered towards the end of the English league season.

Ghana, who suffered a major blow last week when Michel Essien was ruled out of the finals because of injury, also included Portsmouth's German-born midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng in the squad named on Monday.

Boateng recently received FIFA permission to switch his nationality after previously winning caps at under-21 level for Germany, and is expected to debut for the Black Stars in a friendly against the Netherlands in Rotterdam on Tuesday.

The only other uncapped player in the squad is reserve goalkeeper Stephen Ahorlu.

Rajevac cut six players from his preliminary squad; Stephen Adams, Eric Addo, Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu, Laryea Kingston, Haminu Dramani and Bernard Kumordzi.