Recently in Euro 2012 Category

He's back! Rio is out.

Team unity be damned. Old is gold. We have John Terry back resurrected until proven otherwise in the racism charge against Anton Ferdinand. Fabio Capello was sacked for going rogue on Italian TV but Roy Hodgson brought back Terry to the squad without it raising a cheep out of the FA as he sugar coated it on purely "footballing reasons,"

What is Hodgson building on if you also include Frank Lampard, James Milner, and Gareth Barry? The Ox, Danny Welbeck, Phil Jones are amongst a handful of players as nods to the next generation. Fabio Capello was rightly pilloried for his play safe choices but Hodgson's selections show a turgid, first let me not be humiliated thinking.

If Hodgson had any chutzpah this England team should have been a combination of Wigan, Swansea and Norwich City. They would score more and probably given up more goals but the matches would be entertaining and high paced. Where is Victor Moses? Nathan Dyer? Anthony Pilkington?

Andy Carroll seemed to have perked up in his last few appearances but 31 year old Grant Holt has been perked up since the start of this as well as last season. If Emile Heskey was a perennial favourite till very recently because he casts a shadow on goal for the quicker players to dart in and score then Holt not only gives you that but he scores too.

Goalkeepers: Joe Hart (Manchester City), Rob Green (West Ham United), John Ruddy (Norwich City)

Defenders: Leighton Baines (Everton), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Joleon Lescott (Manchester City), John Terry (Chelsea)

Midfielders: Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Stewart Downing (Liverpool), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), James Milner (Manchester City), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal), Scott Parker (Tottenham Hotspur), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Ashley Young (Manchester United)

Forwards: Andy Carroll (Liverpool), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Daniel Welbeck (Manchester United)

On standby: Jack Butland (Birmingham City), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Adam Johnson (Manchester City), Daniel Sturridge (Chelsea).

Fabio Capello showing what he thinks of the FA's decision to nix Terry's captaincy

The FA and Fabio Capello are increasingly at odds with each other over John Terry's captaincy. The Italian was vocal in his support of the Chelsea defender using the cover of the deferred legal case as a presumption of innocence till proven guilty. The FA increasingly under pressure for botching the whole racial abuse case from the get go sought a more moral imperative. Terry's continuation as a captain would prove divisive and distracting to the team.

The FA rode over Capello's objections and axed Terry. The England manager unsurprisingly did not take it well. He went on Italian TV and vented his frustration. Very unwisely, one might add.

"I told (the chairman) that I don't think someone can be punished until it becomes official," Capello told RAI. "The court will decide. It's going to be civil justice, not sports justice, to decide if John Terry committed that crime that he is accused of. And I thought it fair that John Terry keeps the captain's armband."

A public denouncement which did not go down well with the FA. They are in short very incensed.

"It is being taken very seriously by the FA because it may be that Fabio Capello has breached his contract," former FA executive director David Davies told the BBC on Monday. "You have to ask what his motive is. You have to suspect he wants to prevent John Terry retiring as a player before Euro 2012, but there are wider issues. You could have what some of the media are calling a morality circus while England are trying to win the second major tournament in football."

Today, Gordon Taylor, the CEO of the Professional Footballers' Association, called Capello's stance "bizarre and disappointing". Taylor also said that Capello should have held his counsel because the new captain would know he was not his manager's choice, creating a situation not conducive to locker room unity.

This is not the first ill conceived move made by Capello. His Capello index set up prior to the World Cup gave his own England players some very unflattering ratings which set off a firestorm of criticism and caused it to be yanked off forcing Capello onto the defensive. The current situation is far worse because he finds himself increasingly isolated and viewed with suspicion by many in the FA hierarchy. There is a familiar feel to these run of events just before one of the world's most prestigious competitions bringing back a reminder of why Capello's continuation was secured amongst uniform public disapproval.

It's quite telling that some of the more outspoken footballers have not come to his defense. But that would mean implicitly supporting a John Terry captaincy which one suspects is the last thing anyone wants.

A corollary to that would be if Terry would like to continue in the national team, which is possibly the reason why Capello made him captain heading off a potential retirement. Terry has not indicated he feels any differently, but a voluntary retirement would mean the FA and Capello get to save face. Otherwise, indications are Capello might have to re-consider his future as manager. The biggest thing in his favour is Harry Redknapp, the prohibitive favourite to take over as England manager could be a convicted felon by the time his court case gets over. Tomorrow, David Bernstein and Capello are set for a very important meeting to repair this breech.

Czech Republic could do little to stop Juan Mata from scoring the first and Xabi Alonso the other goal against them.Spain continue to be unbeaten winning their Euro qualifier with ease..

Fabio Capello looking for the Philosopher's stone to transform England?

There is no one in this England team save Wayne Rooney who'll make a World XI. And he relies on service. The best European teams have a midfield that have all five bars of connectivity when on the pitch while England stumble around looking for a signal. Sometimes they get it, most times they don't.

Fabio Capello may or may not be the right coach for the job - the continued inclusion of Frank Lampard and Gareth Barry says a lot for lessons learned from the World Cup. But this is really down to the quality of players in the English side. Capello is looking for a philosopher's stone but weeding out perceived "weak minded" players will accomplish very little. The French were "weak minded" in their World Cup but they did not lack for technical ability. Laurent Blanc made the necessary changes and now they are back on track.

The solution is more basic. England has to take a bottom up approach and develop technically gifted players. It requires patience and a long term vision to build a system where talents like Glenn Hoddle or Paul Gascoigne are unearthed as rather more than outliers. The U21 team has some notables who should be fast tracked into the national squad. Expediency and a weak qualifying group will get England to the Euro but they might be setting themselves once again for a WTF happened moment. The Wales performance has the manager already dialing down expectations.

This match will always be remembered for Robert Earnshaw's point blank miss and a blinding fingertip save from Joe Hart that kept Chris Gunter out. As it stands Ashley Young's goal sweeping Stuart Downing's cross past Wayne Hennessey made the difference and kept England rolling towards Euro 2012 qualification. Wales were however the better team and Aaron Ramsey had a superb game.

Joahim Low did not have to dig his nose to strike gold. Mario Gotze serves notice that he might be the next best thing to Mesut Oezil who is already the best thing since Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose, and Bastian Schweinsteiger. Then there is the small matter of Thomas Muller and Andre Schurrle. The Germans did not even play in form striker Mario Gomez. They did not need to with so many weapons in hand.

Klose got them started, Oezil inveigled a brace, Podolski chipped in. The Austrians fought back through goals from Marko Arnautovic and Martin Harnik but Gotze and Schurrle coming on as late substitutions buried the hatchet.

Germany have been flawless scoring 22 goals in 7 matches for a full 21 points. They are head and shoulders above Turkey and Belgium in Group A who are in an interesting dogfight for second.

Wayne Rooney scores a brace and Gary Cahill opens his national account. The Bulgarian defense was shambolic although they did better in the ball possession department without really mounting a threat.

England are sitting pretty in Group G against some real wallflowers. Montenegro is second but the big story is Switzerland so bright in its U21 appearances with just five points after 5 appearances.

A Mario Gomez double did Austria in.They won 2 -1

szólj hozzá: Aus 1-2 Ger

Italy strolled all over Estonia scoring 3 goals while they did so.

szólj hozzá: Ita 3-0 Est

France made heavy weather of Belarus only managing a self goal and a one all draw at the end.

szólj hozzá: Bel 1-1 Fra

This was no April Fool's joke as Bosnia and Herzegovina found themselves banned from international football.

The problem: FIFA/ UEFA does not like the structure of that country's football association which vests powers between three presidents rather than under the more conventional single figurehead.

The reality: Bosnia and Herzegovina, a product of the violent and genocidal "Balkanization" of the former Yugoslovia which gave to the world its first real time exposure to the horrors of "ethnic cleansing" is a country sensitive to the historic need for balance in a complex sharing of power between its major ethnic groups that comprise Serbs, Croats, and Bosniaks.

As this article clearly points out, the very genesis of Bosnia and Herzegovina remains the central issue rather than the issue based politics played out elsewhere. The Dayton Framework, the principal charter agreed upon following the cessation of hostilities was primarily a peace accord which created the political entities represented by the Bosnian Serb majority Republic of Sprska and the Croat and Bosniak driven Federation.

The agreement's virtual absence of clearcut administrative directives has created a laissez faire void. The political space is given to fractious identitarian politics with the primary objective delegitimizing the other rather than tackle more pressing issues like corruption.

FIFA's decision is particularly baffling because it is at odds with the political reality of Bosnia and Herzegovina's governance. The tripartite composition of the football body mirrors the national politics with elected representatives from the Serb, Croat, and Bosniak community forming the presidency in a process sanctioned by the European Union's OHR (Office of the High Representative) that implements the political aspects of the agreement.

The EU recognizes this power sharing as instrumental in maintaining the country's political stability however imperfectly. The politically inward thinking FIFA seems to believe that its "one size fits all" is essential to governance.

As it turned out the national football body met in Sarajevo responding to FIFA's request to resolve the presidential impasse but was held hostage by the very identitarianism that consume it's political space. Serbs fearing a loss of their autonomy clamoured for their presidential representation fully knowing that their intransigence could potentially end their country's Euro campaign. They were supported by Croatian secessionists unhappy with the power sharing arrangement between them and the Bosniaks in the Federation.

While sports professionals were disappointed in the federation's failure to conform to FIFA and UEFA rules, the president of the Bosnian Serb region, Milorad Dodik, told reporters that he was "against having one president of anything in Bosnia, even a beekeeper's association."

Soccer has a particularly intimate and at times violent association with Balkan nationalism. It was in the terraces of Partizan Belgrade that Arkan assembled his proto-fascists and embarked on his scorched earth strategy against Bosnian Muslims, leaving a trail of death and destruction. The seeds of Croatian independence were set down on the pitch of Dinamo Zagreb by Zvonimir Boban who became a national hero and captained the national team in the 1998 World Cup. It is hardly surprising that soccer is intertwined with identitarian consciousness and many actors in charge of the sport share a deep and corrupt nexus with the politicians who run the country. The football federation is a cesspool and in need of major reform but that is not why FIFA is going after it.

To punish a country because it fails to adhere to an arbitrary standard shows the depth of political anachronism and arrogance that is a way of life after 40 years of Joao Havelange and Sepp Blatter. Even if that standard flies in the face of the political reality and international law that hold that country together. FIFA will be better served lifting the ban on Bosnia and letting them continue on with their Euro qualifiers.

Xavi lobbed the goalie to get the opener.Lithuania equalised with a long distance scorcher from Marius Stankevicius. Then Tadas Kijanskas spoiled things a bit by scoring a self goal and Juan Mata delivered the coup de grace.The reign of Spain continues...

szólj hozzá: Ltu 1-3 Esp All

In the first qualifying matches of Euro 2012 since November both World Cup finalists secured wins and remain in cruise mode at the top of their groups.
The Netherlands stormed off to a 4-0 victory against Hungary in their Group E qualifier.

szólj hozzá: Hu 0-4 Ned All

Spain had a tougher match against the Czech Republic.They had to come back from being a goal down to eventually take the game 2 - 1 (Both goals from David Villa)

Footage from the Euro qualifier between Italy and Serbia which had to abandoned because of flare throwing hooligans.Platini on the incident.

Kazakhstan to their credit were able to hold out till the second half before conceding any goals.The second half however saw Miroslav Klose (who else? ), Mario Gomez and Lukas Podolski get their name on the scorecard.

Kazakhstan v Germany
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Klaas Jan Huntelaar scored 4 minutes into the game. Ibrahim Afellay doubled Holland's lead shortly before half time. Both players scored again in the second half. Andreas Granqvist scored a consolation goal for Sweden from a free-kick.

Netherlands v Sweden
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The Scots came back from being 2 goals down and that's the way the score stayed till a mere 10 minutes of play remained.
But the team that Paul the Octopus had put all his money on in the world cup was not to be denied.Fernando Llorente latched on to a deep Capdevilla cross and took the game for Spain.

The first of Portugal's 3 goals against Iceland was from a C Ron freekick.An unusual one - just clearing the wall and taking one bounce before it beat the goalkeeper into the net...
Raul Meireles and Helder Postiga scored the other portuguese goals.(All goals)

Germany whacked Turkey by three goals to nothing in their Euro qualifier.Klose the relentless german scoring machine added another 2 goals to his already enviable tally of international goals.

France put some distance between the bad memories of the South African disaster and the loss to Belarus in their first Euro qualifier.
They beat Romania 2 - 0, both goals coming at the end of the game.
Draws between Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina (1-1) and Luxembourg and Belarus (0-0) mean that France ,by default, are now on top of their group.
Laurent Blanc,looking down from the dizzying height, is a happier man ........!

A certain AC/DC song comes to mind with this picture

Jose Mourinho has turned down a very short term gig coaching the national team for two Euro 2010 qualifiers in October. The Portugese Federation sent out an SOS to the Real Madrid coach which for obvious reasons did not work out.

Meanwhile, the embattled Carlos Queiroz already suspended for two months got his marching orders a week ago. Portugal stumbled at home to minnows Cyprus who came from behind to secure a 4-4 draw and against Norway, Eduardo's infamous blunder lost them the match. Interim coach Agostinho Oliveira could not have asked for a worse start.

Portugal face Denmark on October 8th in a huge game. A loss against the efficient and organized Danes will make qualifying from Group H much harder. Portugal given the amount of talent at its disposal have acquired quite a reputation for underwhelming displays. Something their neighbours have been able to get rid off very successfully.

You know what this all means. Paging Big Phil Scolari. The Portugese Federation will swallow its pride following his controversial Chelsea departure which according to them unsettled Portugal's Euro 2008 campaign. These are desperate times.

Wayne Rooney and James Milner have all come out with statements saying that they would love to have Paul Scholes back in the national side. It's not a tepid endorsement - the two genuinely believe that Scholes could make the difference.

Zinedine Zidane has stated that he intensely regretted never having played alongside the 'most complete footballer'. High praise because Zidane defined 'complete footballer' himself.

Scholes has been in magnificent form for Man Utd in this early season and he shows no signs of slowing down. Before the World Cup there were signs that Scholes could have been persuaded to come back from retirement if Capello had personally called him- in the end the outreach was done by his Franco Baldini, his assistant. For that Capello was roundly criticized.

A missed opportunity because Scholes would have improved the midfield a hundred fold. Getting out of the group stage on top might have changed their World Cup fortunes. But could Scholes be tempted back? He might be - with so many footballers advocating his return. Can you imagine this happening before the World Cup? Surely, Joe Cole included in the Algeria game after players lobbied for his return changed the dynamic between them and the hitherto inflexible Capello.

It's almost as if the players are trying to force the England manager to atone for not doing the right thing. Call him up they seem to say- get him back because his passes are going to find Rooney, Zamora, Bent or whomever you want to play. Capello might be forced to do it if England fail to impress in their Euro qualifiers while Scholes continues his Man Utd exploits this season.