Donovan poised to reach 100 caps
Bristol City release five including top scorer
Pique rejoins Barcelona
Capello makes Terry captain for United States game
FIFA set to back foreign player quota
England player numbers at new low
Euro 2008 favourites held to a draw
International Friendly Round-Up
Los Angeles Galaxy forward Landon Donovan will pick up his 100th cap at Wembley if he is picked to play for USA against England on Wednesday night.
Donovan who is also the leading goalscorer in US international history with 35 goals will become the youngest American to reach the century at only twenty-six.
Donovan’s teammate David Beckham will also be presented with his 100th cap by Sir Bobby Charlton prior to the match.
Bristol City have released five players, including top goalscorer Darren Byfield, following their defeat in the Championship play-off final. Eight-goal Byfield, striker Enoch Showumni, midfielder Alex Russell and Martin Slocombe have been released while Tamas Vasko’s one-year loan deal from Ujpest has expired.
Manchester United’s Gerard Pique will rejoin Barcelona after the defender agreed a four-year deal at the Nou Camp. The 21-year-old joined United from Barcelona in 2004, but has never been a regular.
England manager Fabio Capello has named John Terry as the captain for the friendly international against USA. Terry follows Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard as captains as Capello looks for a regular skipper.
Fifa president Sepp Blatter expects his “six plus five” proposal on foreign players to be endorsed by the ruling body’s congress later this week. His plan would limit the number of foreign players in each team to five.
Blatter wants the rule in place by 2012 but said to today at Fifa’s annual conference, that the rules restricting the number of foreign players could start in the 2010/11 season, with a minimum of four home-grown players being required in each team.
In a very interesting survey compiled by the BBC in view of Blatter’s idea it has been found that only 34.1% of players who started matches in the premier league last season were English. (Only 170 of 498 players.)
The previous lowest number of English starters had been 179 in the 2002-03 season. It seems a World away from the days when Tottenham signed Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricardo Villa after the 1978 World Cup.
Germany, who are the bookies favourites to win Euro 2008, were held to a 2-2 draw by Belarus after giving away a two goal half-time lead. Miroslav Klose had opened the scoring before a Korytko own goal doubled their lead but Bulyga put two past Jens Lehmann in the second half to give Belarus a share of the spoils.
Jan Koller scored twice as the Czech Republic beat Lithuania 2-0. Euro 2008 co-hosts Austria were held to a draw at home by Nigeria. Poland beat Albania 1-0 with Maciei Zurawski scoring in the 3rd minute. France beat Ecuador 2-0 with debutant Bafetimbi Gomis scoring twice on his debut after coming on as a substitute. Japan were held to a goalless draw by Paraguay but the result was good enough for the hosts to win the three-nation Kirin Cup.
Kevin Taylor