Live Football

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/87926?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Campbell+pushes+his+way+into+Pearce%27s+planningch=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=England+football+team%2CCzech+Republic+football+team%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Stuart+Jamesc7=2008_11_19c8=1120079c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Englandc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FEngland” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpThe preparations for next summer’s European Championships started last night, according to Stuart Pearce, and this was a performance that suggested everything is going to plan. Having used the occasion as an opportunity to experiment, the England Under-21 manager had good reason to be satisfied with the result as an under-strength line-up overcame a combative Czech Republic side through goals from the in-form Fraizer Campbell and Aston Villa’s Craig Gardner./ppHow many of these players appear in Sweden in June remains to be seen but Pearce was able to take encouragement from the fact that he has such competition for places. No one was more impressive than Campbell, with the 21-year-old striker, who has scored three times in his last two games on loan at Tottenham Hotspur, registering his first international goal and generally making life as uncomfortable as possible for the Czech Republic./pp”I thought he played well,” said Pearce. “He’s quick, darts in behind and is a constant threat. If he carries on the way he is, Manchester United and Tottenham will have a player on their hands.” Pearce also singled out the contribution of the Wolverhampton Wanderers central defender Richard Stearman, the sole debutant in the England starting line-up on a night when an inexperienced side extended the manager’s run to one defeat in 22 matches./pp”It took us an hour to knock them off,” added Pearce, whose goalkeeper, Peterborough’s Joe Lewis, was taken off on a stretcher in the first half with his ankle heavily strapped. “We probably needed to show a touch more devilment and grab the game by the scruff of the neck early on. But we wanted to get a win, keep a clean sheet and for three or four players to come in and do well and I think I got that out of this performance.”/ppCampbell capitalised on Jan Halama’s weak header before lobbing Jakub Divis, Gardner’s 25-yard free-kick doubled England’s lead and a third should have followed two minutes later but Jamie O’Hara telegraphed his intentions with a weak penalty after Jakub Heidenreich bundled over Campbell. There should have been another England spot-kick within seconds after the same two players clashed but Campbell was harshly booked for diving./pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/england”England/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/czechrepublic”Czech Republic/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227057980222111901285839760″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227057980222111901285839760″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by Stuart James

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/6218?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+The+rise+of+a+club+beyond+its+history+and+dreamsch=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=Hull+City+%28Football%29%2CPremier+League+%28Football%29%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CPremier+Leaguec6=David+Connc7=2008_11_19c8=1120054c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Hull+Cityc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FHull+City” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpA Premier League table with Hull City beaming out in sixth place presents the season’s most romantic story, a crucible of local pride amid all the global brands. But there is also a hard business nose behind Hull’s rise and to understand it you begin at the KC Stadium./ppThe launch pad for City’s revival, the stadium was built by the local council for pound;43.5m and the source of the money tells its own tale about Hull. The city feels far from everywhere - a “cul-de-sac ending at the sea” as one fan at Sunday’s match cheerfully described it - and uniquely it has its own telephone company, Kingston Communications, with trademark white phone boxes. In 1999 the council made pound;263m from selling part of the company and resolved to build a new, landmark stadium for the football and Hull FC rugby league clubs as a statement of ambition in their futures and in that of an often beleaguered city itself./ppThe council was not, however, too eager to sign that bonanza over to the club while it was substantially owned by Stephen Hinchliffe, who in February 2001 was sentenced to five years in prison (reduced to four on appeal) for corruption and bribery following the pound;70m collapse of his company, Facia. Hinchliffe, with a businessman, Nick Buchanan, had in 1998 bought 65% of Hull from David Lloyd, the former tennis professional and fitness clubs entrepreneur, who had become disillusioned after failing to rouse the slumbering Tigers at Boothferry Park./ppHinchliffe was a living, breathing, Mercedes-driving advert for a fit-and-proper-person test. The police had been investigating him for fraud since Facia’s 1996 collapse and the Department for Trade and Industry had also been seeking to disqualify him from acting as a company director./ppThe game’s authorities were then still deriding the idea of establishing such a test and, even now they have introduced it, somebody with long-standing criminal investigations hanging over him can still take over a club - as Thaksin Shinawatra did at Manchester City. People are barred from being club directors, or 30% shareholders, only once they have been convicted or disqualified./ppIn February 2001, with Hinchliffe still the largest shareholder, Hull City fell into administration with debts of pound;1.8m, after Lloyd changed the Boothferry Park locks because Buchanan’s regime had lapsed on the rent./ppInto this landscape arrived Adam Pearson, the Leeds United commercial director who, it would turn out, was leaving Peter Ridsdale’s Elland Road with shrewd timing. Backed financially by a Leeds-based internet entrepreneur Peter Wilkinson, Pearson saw in Hull’s wreckage “massive latent potential”: a one-club city, no competitors for miles around, with a council presenting it with a new stadium./ppPearson and Wilkinson bought the club from the administrator for pound;360,000 and the council was prepared to do business with them. In December 2002 City moved to the KC Stadium, immediately attracting extraordinary crowds, beginning with 22,000 for the first home game, against Hartlepool, in the bottom division. Pearson recalls “immense pride” from fans hungry for respectability and success./ppHe says he and Wilkinson invested some money, although the club was soon self-funding, and he went through two managers, Brian Little and Jan Molby, before finding Peter Taylor, “the right man at the right time”, to win Hull promotions in 2004 and 2005. In the Championship their ascent faltered; Pearson says the economics in that division are awful, the clubs without parachute payments all losing money trying to compete./pp”It needed a boost financially,” he explains, “which wasn’t available to me.”/ppTwo businessmen, Paul Duffen and Martin Walker, and an Essex-based property investor, Russell Bartlett, were looking to buy a football club when West Ham, whom Bartlett supports, were for sale in 2006. The Icelandic bank Landsbanki was backing them initially but after West Ham won promotion the price tripled and the Icelanders ultimately bought the club themselves. Duffen’s consortium continued looking at Championship level, first at Cardiff before Keith Harris, merchant banker and serial football takeover broker, introduced them to Hull. It was, Duffen says a little unromantically, “a perfect box-tick”: wide catchment area, new stadium all paid for and property around it to develop./ppThey bought the club in June last year for a reported pound;13m. Pearson shared his handsome profit for seven years’ involvement with his backer, Wilkinson. They looked for another club, tried to buy Leeds out of administration but lost to Ken Bates’ consortium, then Pearson bought into Derby County, ushering them quickly into a takeover led by the United States consultancy GSE./pp”I don’t feel regret,” Pearson says of selling Hull just before their delirious promotion to the Premier League. “I had seven great years, it was a fantastic deal financially and the club needed new investment.”/ppWhen planning how to vault the financial chasm between the Championship and Premier League Duffen and Bartlett calculated that clubs with parachute payments have wage bills of pound;12-pound;15m, so to have half a chance of competing by paying wages of pound;8m, Hull would lose pound;6m. So they budgeted to invest that, pound;6m, for three seasons, Duffen moving from Surrey to become full-time chairman in Yorkshire, Bartlett staying in Essex and providing most of the money./ppUnder Phil Brown, an inspired appointment, they made it, via the play-offs, in one season. Around football they are considered to have spent the pound;30m Premier League TV windfall wisely. Duffen explains it: they looked for free agents, where no transfer fees were payable, unearthing this season’s find, Geovanni, that way, but did spend to sign others: pound;500,000 for George Boateng, pound;1m for Daniel Cousin, more than pound;2m each for Anthony Gardner, Kamil Zayatte and Peter Halmosi; 12 players altogether, without borrowing. If Hull do not make it this season - “We don’t use negative words like relegation at this club,” Duffen says firmly - the players’ contracts stipulate they can leave for free, or take a drop in wages, to ensure the books would balance. If they survive, Hull could become a Premier League fixture./ppA debt-free Premier League club with a paid-for stadium would surely fetch more than pound;13m from a buyer but Duffen, clearly relishing being involved, says they have no plans to sell. Duffen argues that City, given their catchment area, which includes wealthy stretches of Yorkshire as well as poor neighbourhoods in Hull, can be “bigger than Bolton, Blackburn, Reading, Wigan and Middlesbrough”. Asked whether he is pleasantly shocked by Hull’s start in the Premier League, he says no./pp”This was our plan, we have confidence in Phil Brown, the coaching staff and players and, when a plan succeeds, you should not be shocked,” he argues - with, throughout, a determined and straight face./ph2A brief history of Hull/h2pstrong1865/strong/ppHull FC, the rugby league club, is formed /ppstrong1904/strong/ppFootball club Hull City formed, renting at Hull FC’s Boulevard Ground /ppstrong1910/strong/ppTigers finish third in the Second Division, the closest they came to top-flight football until last season /ppstrong2002/strong/ppStill in the old Third Division, City move from Boothferry Park to the new KC Stadium; Hull FC move from the Boulevard to share the ground /ppstrong2008/strong/ppHull City win promotion to the Premier League, the top flight, for the first time in their history/pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/hullcity”Hull City/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premierleague”Premier League/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227054414950111900270935413″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227054414950111900270935413″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by David Conn

David Healy is hoping to use Northern Ireland’s match with Hungary to prove he is worth a place in the Sunderland side

Original post by Ken Gaunt

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/61306?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Glasgow+hails+the+hand+of+Godch=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=Diego+Maradona%2CScotland+football+team%2CFootball%2CScotland+%28News%29%2CUK+news%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Richard+Williamsc7=2008_11_19c8=1120042c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Diego+Maradonac13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FDiego+Maradona” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpAt this stage in the proceedings, the most likely place to find Diego Armando Maradona ought to be in the pages of his compatriot Jorge Luis Borges’s Book of Imaginary Beings, alongside the stiff-bristled, mud-wallowing Catoblepas, the 100-mile-long Earthquake fish, the weeping, wart-covered Squonk and the Peryton of the ancient world - half-deer, half-bird, but casting the shadow of a man./ppThe people of Glasgow have been staring at the former golden boy of world football this week as though he were a mythical beast capable of changing shape at will./ppAnd yet, as he wandered the corridors of his hotel Maradona, now 48, looked far more like the sturdy, well-proportioned figure who so hurtfully removed England from the 1986 World Cup than either the sliver of a man who fought his way back into the Argentina team for the 1994 World Cup, only to fail a drugs test when traces of diuretics were found in his urine, or the terrifyingly obese creature who, 10 years later, suffered a heart attack while watching a match in Buenos Aires and was rushed to hospital, a tearful crowd clutching candles outside as nurses hooked him up to a life support system./ppApart from Buenos Aires, his home city, and Naples, where he performed miracles in the 1980s while falling under the influence of the Camorra and cocaine, there is possibly no city on earth that would give him a warmer welcome than Glasgow, where his hand-ball goal in Mexico 22 years ago was fervently acclaimed and where he will make his debut as Argentina’s head coach in tonight’s friendly match against Scotland./ppAsked at last night’s press conference about the comments of Terry Butcher, the assistant manager of the Scotland squad, who was a member of the England team that day in 1986 and made it clear this week that he will refuse to shake the Hand of God at Hampden Park, Maradona prefaced his reply with a pantomime “Oooh!” worthy of Kenneth Williams./pp”I don’t understand why he’s taking this attitude,” he said. “Let him get on with his life and I’ll get on with mine.” Pressed further by a television reporter on that most notorious of goals, he responded with a reference to an equally controversial incident from 20 years earlier. “I can reply to the lady that when England won the World Cup, it was with a goal that everybody could see never crossed the line,” he said./ppAs he held his hands two feet apart to indicate the distance between the bounce of Geoff Hurst’s shot and the goal line at Wembley in 1966, the Scottish and Argentinian media contingents convulsed with laughter./ppMore than 400 journalists from around the world have descended on Glasgow this week to watch the legend lead a 21-strong squad including the 20-year-old goalscoring prodigy Sergio Aguuml;ero, whose girlfriend, Maradona’s younger daughter Giannina, is due to give birth to Diego’s first grandchild - a boy - in February. So while the next New Maradona may be his son-in-law, the one after that could be his grandson./ppEven though Maradona captained Argentina to victory in 1986, his appointment represents a considerable risk. His coaching record amounts to just 23 matches, first with Mandiyu of Corrientes, a small club, in 1994, and then with Racing Club of Buenos Aires, a very large one, the following year. Only three of those matches ended in victories. An idol in his homeland he may be, and the object of a cult that has reached its bizarre apogee in the founding of a Church of Maradona (whose Scottish representatives have been keeping a vigil outside the hotel), but a recent poll found almost three-quarters of the Argentinian public believe the appointment to be a mistake./ppHis demise, however, has been inaccurately foretold on several occasions. As he lay in hospital back in April 2004, virtually every sportswriter in the world spent time composing his obituary. But, detoxed in Cuba and with his stomach stapled in Colombia, he defied predictions and returned to life. And now he is back on the biggest stage, as the coach responsible for reviving Argentina’s faltering qualification campaign for the World Cup in South Africa in 2010./ppHe strode through the throng gathered at the airport to greet his return to Scotland - where, as an 18-year-old in 1979, he scored his first international goal - with that familiar barrel-chested strut and the imperious 1,000-yard stare of a man who has spent all his life under the gaze of others and still has horizons to conquer./ppThe smiles were wider throughout his first training session, which began 15 minutes earlier than the scheduled 6.30pm start. Yesterday’s press conference, too, started and finished on time. A man notorious for his indifference to punctuality appears intent on demonstrating his professionalism./ppWearing a blue team tracksuit, black gloves and a beanie hat, Maradona stood aside at Celtic Park as the squad went through a brief sequence of warm-up sprints and stretches while their fitness instructor clapped out a rhythm that sounded more tarantella than tango. Before long, however, a game of football was in progress. The new head coach limped noticeably as he walked among his players in the guise of referee, restricting himself to a blast on his whistle when a goal was scored./ppThe session ended after an hour with the players retreating to the changing rooms, leaving the unusual sight of Maradona, his assistants and a dozen ball boys recruited from Celtic’s juniors intently searching the turf for a gold St Christopher medallion which had detached itself from the neck-chain of one of the players. The 13-year-old who found it was embraced and hoisted into the air by the head coach and presented with his hat and gloves. Instinctive and impulsive, it was a gesture typical of the dark-eyed, curly-haired, divinely talented kid who left a Buenos Aires slum to capture hearts around the world./ppSomeone asked yesterday if he would find it difficult to restrain his famously turbulent emotions while occupying his new vantage point on the touchline? /pp”It depends on how the team are playing,” he said. “If they’re making me feeling secure, I’ll be fine. If things are going badly, I’m going to behave as I’ve always done.”/ppAll being well, Maradona will have become a grandfather by the time Argentina play their next World Cup qualifying matches in March. If he is still wearing the coach’s tracksuit when they meet Venezuela at home and climb to 12,000ft above sea level to face Bolivia in La Paz, then Julio Grondona, the 77-year-old president of the Argentinian football association - who likened this evening’s game to “a wedding night - you really hope that it will be wonderful but you never actually know how it’s going to turn out” - may be giving himself a cautious pat on the back./pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/diego-maradona”Diego Maradona/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/scotland”Scotland/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/scotland”Scotland/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227054414962111900270935413″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227054414962111900270935413″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by Richard Williams

Tottenham have parted company with goalkeeping coach Hans Leitert after he failed to get the best from Heurelho Gomes

Original post by James Callow

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/36612?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Burley+the+optimist+chooses+to+see+half-empty+stadium+as+half-fullch=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=Scotland+football+team%2CArgentina+football+team%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Ewan+Murrayc7=2008_11_19c8=1120030c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Scotlandc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FScotland” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpGeorge Burley last night issued a firm defence of Scotland’s football-supporting public despite little over half the tickets for tonight’s visit of Argentina being sold, a potential source of embarrassment for the country’s football association./ppDiego Maradona’s debut as the Argentina national coach has failed fully to capture the imagination of Scottish fans and as of yesterday only 28,000 tickets had been sold for the friendly at the 52,000-capacity Hampden Park. By kick-off, the Scottish FA hopes that figure will have risen to 35,000. Anything less and, given Argentina’s pound;800,000 appearance fee, the host association is virtually certain not to break even on the glamour fixture./ppAn SFA spokesman said it would be “delighted” if 35,000 attend, even if such a crowd would seem disproportionate to worldwide media interest in Argentina and Maradona’s arrival on these shores. A bullish marketing campaign, particularly after Maradona’s appointment last month, appears to have done little to entice potential paying customers./ppYet Burley is upbeat. “People have got to be realistic,” he said. “It is a midweek game and in the present climate it costs a lot of money. If it was a Saturday, it would be easier for people to bring their families. If we are talking about 35,000, that is a terrific crowd for a midweek game. To get 35,000 in this climate and in this day and age would be very good.”/ppBurley also dismissed any notion that naming his starting XI a day early might boost the attendance figure and declined an opportunity to do so. “I don’t see the benefit in that,” he said./ppAdult ticket prices have ranged from pound;25-pound;35 for the game, with family - one adult and one child - packages available for pound;28. The SFA spokesman added that the “atmosphere and occasion” was more significant than making a financial loss. But, given that the SFA chief executive, Gordon Smith, has stated a near-capacity crowd would encourage him in trying to bring Brazil to Glasgow, the Tartan Army are now unlikely to catch sight of Dunga and his squad in the near future./ppOn the field Burley believes the simple tactic to ensure Scotland avoid defeat to the team currently ranked sixth in the world relates to his players’ level of effort. “The only way we are going to compete against teams like Argentina is by working harder than them,” said the manager. “Working harder is the challenge. We may not be able to compete with their individual talents, with which they have been brought up, but we can work harder as a team. As a manager, you concentrate on your own team, not the opposition, no matter who you are playing. It is just more important you get it right when you face the top sides.”/ppBarry Ferguson will feature for the first time since Burley was appointed in January after a series of injury problems. Though Ferguson’s Rangers team-mates, Lee McCulloch and Kris Boyd, have recently retired from international duty but Burley has never had any doubts about the Scotland captain’s continued willingness to represent his country./pp”Barry has been desperate to get out there, he is desperate to play,” said Burley, who is likely to spare the midfielder 90 minutes of action. “His enthusiasm to play for his country has never waned.” Another Rangers player, Allan McGregor, will start in goal with Craig Gordon injured./pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/scotland”Scotland/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/argentina”Argentina/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227054414974111900270935413″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227054414974111900270935413″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by Ewan Murray

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/73651?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Walcott+injury+leaves+Capello+under+fresh+firech=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=England+football+team%2CGermany+%28Football+team%29%2CTheo+Walcott%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CPremier+Leaguec6=Dominic+Fifieldc7=2008_11_19c8=1120005c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Englandc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FEngland” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpTheo Walcott has become the latest casualty of a friendly international already denounced as meaningless by some Premier League managers after the Arsenal winger dislocated his right shoulder in training last night. The youngster will play no part against Germany tonight and, if the injury requires surgery, will face up to 10 weeks out of the game./ppThe teenager fell awkwardly under challenge from Scott Parker on a sodden pitch and, although he was initially able to continue with the practice session, the shoulder popped out of its joint shortly afterwards. He was helped to the touchline and eventually carried from the arena on a stretcher with England’s medical staff holding the damaged arm above his head. The shoulder was put back into place at a local hospital and a decision will be made this morning as to when the winger can travel home./ppAlso today a specialist will assess the shoulder to decide whether an operation is required. Even if it is not, Walcott can expect to be out for a minimum of three weeks. Arsenal’s medical staff were advised of the injury soon after the incident, with the Football Association painfully aware of the furore whipped up this week over the issue of club versus country commitments. “Our priority is Theo and making him as comfortable as possible before he returns to England,” said the head coach, Fabio Capello. “We’re all very disappointed but the most important thing is for Theo to travel home and make a quick recovery.”/ppWalcott missed the Champions League tie against Fenerbahce after injuring his left shoulder against Stoke earlier this month. He underwent corrective surgery in the summer of 2007 aimed at fixing a hereditary condition that weakened the ligaments in his arm, though now the injury has afflicted his right side. England will most likely call upon Aston Villa’s Ashley Young tonight, though the implications of Walcott’s potentially lengthy absence are more serious for Arsenal./ppThe 19-year-old has featured in every Premier League game for Arsenal this season and the injury will infuriate Arsène Wenger. The Frenchman had already made clear his frustration at the timing of this international friendly window - his dissatisfaction echoed by other leading top-flight managers - and confirmation that one of the division’s brightest stars has been injured ahead of the friendly will do little to repair the already strained relationship between Capello and the clubs./ppJust an hour before Walcott suffered the dislocation, the national coach had been attempting to reassert his authority over disgruntled Premier League managers by insisting any player who features for his club on the weekend before an international fixture will not be permitted to withdraw from his squad through injury until checked by his own medical staff./ppThat policy saw Steven Gerrard, one of possibly eight first-choice players absent this evening, travel to Watford to be evaluated by England’s medical staff on Sunday, having already been ruled out by Liverpool with a groin injury sustained at Bolton on Saturday. Rafael Benítez had been unimpressed at his captain having to make a 400-mile round trip when he might have been recuperating but Capello will insist on his players doing the same in future./pp”This will be the rule for next time,” said the Italian. “Always the England doctor will check the physical condition of the players. We respect the doctors of the [club] teams but the rules will be to check the condition of the players. I spoke privately with Rafael Benítez. When a player plays on a Saturday or Sunday and we have a game, we will check whether or not it is possible for them to recover for our match. This is my way of doing things, a way to avoid arguments or misunderstandings. It is our new protocol.”/pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/england”England/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/germany”Germany/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/theo-walcott”Theo Walcott/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227057980268111901285839760″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227057980268111901285839760″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by Dominic Fifield

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/6375?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+We+can+finish+ahead+of+Italy%2C+claims+Trapattonich=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=World+Cup+2010+qualifiers%2CRepublic+of+Ireland+football+team%2CItaly+%28Football+team%29%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=David+Hytnerc7=2008_11_19c8=1119948c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=World+Cup+2010+qualifiersc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FWorld+Cup+2010+qualifiers” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpGiovanni Trapattoni has suggested for the first time that the Republic of Ireland can challenge his native Italy for the automatic World Cup qualifying spot from Group Eight. The Ireland manager had previously said that his team was realistically in a battle with Bulgaria, Cyprus, Montenegro and Georgia for a play-off berth but as he hoped for a result against Poland in tonight’s Croke Park friendly to round off an unbeaten first calendar year in the job, his attitude was more bullish. /pp”Why not, why can’t we win the group?” he said. “Italy has a very difficult situation. It has injured players and normally [in this situation] it can choose from 35 or 40 players, they have a wider choice.”/ppTrapattoni wonders if Marcello Lippi, who led Italy to the World Cup in 2006 and is now back at the helm after Roberto Donadoni’s unsuccessful Euro 2008, can boast that same strength in depth. He has studied Italy’s four qualifying ties to date, in which they have taken 10 points but have often flattered to deceive and noted that when without the goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and the playmaker Andrea Pirlo, as they were in the 0-0 draw in Bulgaria and the 2-1 home win over Montenegro, they were not as convincing. /pp”We watched Cyprus v Italy and Cyprus should have won the game 4-1 or 5-1 and then Italy scored in the last minute to win 2-1,” said the goalkeeper Shay Given. “There are no easy games. The manager has come in and he has given us a belief that we are good enough to qualify, that we can play teams like Italy and get results.” /ppIn the absence of the injured Robbie Keane, Given will captain the team on what promises to be an atmospheric occasion. “Half of Ireland has been taken over by Poland,” said Given, with a nod towards the large immigrant population. “It’s a long way for me from Lifford in Donegal to Croke Park and it’s a real honour to lead the team out.” /pp”It’s not nice to make comparisons but in personality and quality, Shay is like Buffon,” added Trapattoni, who will give the Hull City striker Caleb Folan his full debut in place of Keane. “I speak with two or three of the big managers [at Italian clubs] and they ask me ‘Can Shay play with us?’ The answer is yes.”/ppIreland have taken seven points from an available nine in qualifying and are unbeaten in six matches under Trapattoni. They play Georgia at home next February before the critical double header against Bulgaria (home) and Italy (away) at the end of March and the beginning of April./ppTrapattoni’s desire to keep the momentum going will be reflected in his team selection tonight. Although he plans to assess fringe players in the second-half - he name-checked Damien Delaney, Keith Andrews, Anthony Stokes, Shane Long and Noel Hunt - his only other change to the starting line-up will be Wolves’ Andy Keogh for the injured Aiden McGeady of Celtic. “Only the result matters,” said Trapattoni. “We have to be a solid team and Poland, as one of the stronger teams in Europe, will be a real test.”/ppThe FAI, meanwhile, has said it hopes England can be among the first teams to visit the rebuilt Lansdowne Road, which is scheduled to open in August 2010./ppstrongIreland/strong (4-4-2) strongGiven/strong (Newcastle); strongMcShane/strong (Hull City), strongO’Shea/strong (Man Utd),strong Dunne/strong (Manchester City), strongKilbane/strong (Wigan); strongKeogh/strong (Wolves), strongGibson/strong (Man Utd), strongWhelan/strong (Stoke City), strongDuff/strong (Newcastle); strongFolan/strong (Hull City), strongDoyle/strong (Reading). /ppstrongSubstitutes from Murphy/strong (Scunthorpe Utd), strongWestwood/strong (Coventry), strongBruce/strong (Ipswich Town), strongDelaney/strong (QPR), strongFoley/strong (Wolves), strongAndrews/strong (Blackburn), strongS Hunt/strong (Reading), strongMiller/strong (Sunderland), strongStokes/strong (Sheffield Utd), strongLong/strong (Reading), strongN Hunt /strong(Reading). /ppstrongPoland/strong (4-1-3-1-1) strongFabianski/strong (Arsenal); strongWasilewski/strong (Anderlecht), strongDudka/strong (Auxerre), strongJodlowiec/strong (Polonia Warsaw), strongWawrzyniak/strong (Legia Warsaw); strongM Lewandowski/strong (Shakhtar Donetsk); strongBlaszczykowski/strong (Borussia Dortmund), strongGargula/strong (Betchatow), strongKrzynowek /strong(Wolfsburg); strongGuerreiro/strong (Legia Warsaw); strongBrozek/strong (Wisla Krakow). /ppstrongSubstitutes from Zaluska /strong(Dundee Utd), strongMajewski/strong (Polonia Warsaw), strongBoguski/strong (Wisla Krakow), strongWojtkowiak/strong, strongBosacki/strong, strongR Lewandowski/strong, strongBandrowski/strong, strongPeszko/strong (all Lech Poznan). /ppstrongReferee/strong K Jakobsson (Iceland)./ppTV Sky Sport 2, kick-off 7.45pm/pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/worldcup2010qualifiers”World Cup 2010 qualifiers/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/republicofireland”Republic of Ireland/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/italy”Italy/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227054415007111900270935413″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227054415007111900270935413″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by David Hytner

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/38579?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Two-match+ban+for+Ferguson+as+Drogba+is+suspended+for+threech=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=Premier+League+%28Football%29%2CChelsea+%28Football%29%2CManchester+United+%28Football%29%2CEverton+%28Football%29%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CPremier+Leaguec6=Simon+Burnton%2CSid+Lowec7=2008_11_19c8=1120003c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Premier+Leaguec13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FPremier+League” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpThe Football Association yesterday gave Sir Alex Ferguson a two-match touchline ban and a pound;10,000 fine for abusing a referee, fined David Moyes pound;5,000 for a similar offence and banned Didier Drogba for three games - including Chelsea’s televised game against Arsenal - for throwing a coin at Burnley fans during last week’s Carling Cup tie at Stamford Bridge./ppFerguson’s punishment came after the Manchester United manager criticised Mike Dean folowing his side’s 4-3 win over Hull earlier this month. He was angry that Andy Turner had not received a second yellow card for a foul on Michael Carrick, and that Hull were later awarded a penalty for a Rio Ferdinand challenge on Bernard Mendy the manager felt was innocuous. “It should have been at least a yellow card,” Ferguson said of Turner’s challenge. He described the penalty award as “very soft”./ppThe 66-year-old’s suspension starts on December 2, meaning that he will miss the Carling Cup quarter-final against Blackburn Rovers the following night - when Greater Manchester police have unusually agreed to United playing at home at the same time as Manchester City, who are scheduled to play Paris St-Germain in the Uefa Cup that night - followed by a Premier League match at home to Sunderland on December 6. /ppFerguson was also banned for two matches, and fined pound;5,000, last season for using “insulting words” against Mark Clattenburg during a game against Bolton. In his absence his side lost to West Ham before beating Birmingham City 1-0./ppMoyes, meanwhile, was fined and “warned as to his future conduct” for his behaviour during Everton’s 3-2 league win at Stoke City in September, when Alan Wiley sent him to the stands for his reaction to his side not being awarded a possible penalty. Drogba’s punishment starts immediately and rules him out of league matches against Newcastle and Bolton, as well as the Arsenal game. /ppBarcelona’s former Manchester United defender Gerard Piqueacute; suggested yesterday that Ferguson was unlucky that anyone could make enough sense of his comments to be offended by them. Admitting that he “got lost a little bit in the team talks” during his time in England, Piqueacute; said: “The gaffer used a very Scottish kind of English that might as well have been Chinese as far as I was concerned. But I wasn’t the worst - there are players in the current squad who still don’t understand him.”/ppPiqueacute;, who returned from Manchester to his boyhood club in the summer for a fee of around pound;6m, also criticised his former team-mates’ diet. “It was outrageous,” he said. “Everyone ate whatever they wanted to eat, and when you think about the typical English diet you can imagine what I am talking about. /pp”Every 15 days they would put us on what we called the ’spare-tyre machine’ to measure our body fat. You would be amazed at how many top players practically broke the machine because their diet was based on beer and burgers.”/pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premierleague”Premier League/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/chelsea”Chelsea/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/manchesterunited”Manchester United/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/everton”Everton/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227054414992111900270935413″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227054414992111900270935413″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by Simon Burnton, Sid Lowe

divimg alt=”" src=”http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/50388?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Walcott+joins+Capello%27s+long+casualty+listch=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=England+football+team%2CGermany+%28Football+team%29%2CTheo+Walcott%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CPremier+Leaguec6=Dominic+Fifieldc7=2008_11_19c8=1120005c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Englandc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FEngland” width=”1″ height=”1″ //divpTheo Walcott looks certain to join England’s lengthy absentee list for tonight’s friendly against Germany after suffering a shoulder injury when tackled by Scott Parker on a sodden surface during training last night. The winger was carried from the pitch at the Olympic stadium with his damaged arm above his head to try to keep the shoulder in place and Arsenal will be fretting over his fitness./ppWalcott has a history of shoulder problems. He hurt his left shoulder during Arsenal’s defeat at Stoke this month after a challenge by Rory Delap, which forced his departure on a stretcher, and has had surgery in the past. The 19-year-old was out for a week after his substitution at Stoke, missing a Champions League game against Fenerbahce, and Arsenal will hope the damage is no more serious this time./ppWalcott had been due to play tonight at right midfield and Ashley Young would be an obvious candidate to replace him, with Stewart Downing on the left. His absence would deny Fabio Capello yet another first-choice player, England’s manager having already lost Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Joe Cole, Ashley Cole, Wes Brown and Emile Heskey./ppLast night Capello reasserted his authority over disgruntled Premier League managers by saying any player who appears for their club on the weekend before an international fixture will always need to be checked by England doctors before they are allowed to withdraw through injury./ppEngland take on Germany with a side unrecognisable to that which won last month’s World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Belarus. Liverpool’s premature decision to rule out Gerrard backfired when Capello demanded the midfielder travel to Watford to be evaluated on Sunday, a move which infuriated Rafael Beniacute;tez, though Capello insisted that such a policy will be the norm now./pp”This will be the rule for next time,” said the Italian. “Always, the England doctor will check the physical condition of the players. We respect the doctors of the [club] teams, but the rules will be to check the condition of the players. I spoke privately with Rafael Beniacute;tez. When a player plays on a Saturday or Sunday and we have a game, we will check whether or not it is possible for them to recover for our match. If it is possible for them to play in midweek, they’ll stay with us. If not, they can go home. This is my way of doing things, a way to avoid arguments or misunderstandings. It is our new protocol.”/ppCapello has been reassured that Gerrard, who has a minor groin complaint, and Lampard would not have been fit. The Chelsea midfielder suffered a rib injury at West Bromwich on Saturday and would have required an injection, a risk the England manager admitted was not worth taking. Yet the England captain, John Terry suggested both players might have played had this been a competitive fixture./ppTerry argued Capello had played a “shrewd” game by releasing senior players carrying knocks or strains in the hope that, should they be suffering from similar ailments ahead of a qualifying game, he might call in a favour with their club managers. “The manager’s been clever with the clubs,” said the centre-half. “There are going to be times when he needs a Steven Gerrard, a Rio or a Frank. He’ll ask them to play through an injury then, so he’s been clever with the lads who have pulled out./pp”The clubs understand it. Maybe in the future he’ll use this to help him. He might go to the clubs when he needs the players for a big match and say: ‘Remember last time I was lenient but I really need the players this time.’ Stevie has a muscle problem so it would have been a big risk in this game and one not worth taking. A player might be able to play through a niggle in a knee or a foot but not with a muscle injury. That’s too risky. But for people to say players have pulled out when they’re not injured, that’s a load of rubbish.”/pdiv style=”float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;”ullia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/england”England/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/germany”Germany/a/lilia href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/theo-walcott”Theo Walcott/a/li/ul/divdiv class=”guRssAdvert”a href=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227054414984111900270935413″img src=”http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=nldspacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227054414984111900270935413″ border=”0″ //a/diva href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk”guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href=”http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html”Terms Conditions/a | a href=”http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html”More Feeds/a

Original post by Dominic Fifield