“If you remember the 1998 World Cup in France, then you remember Dennis Bergkamp’s goal for the Netherlands in the quarterfinal vs Argentina. The score was 1-1 in the 89th minute, and extra time looked almost certain. Until Bergkamp produced his moment of magic.” (World Cup Blog)
“When Real Madrid went to Hampden Park for the 2002 Champions League final they thought that winning the trophy was their destiny. The club was in its centenary year and Florentino Perez had assembled a team of Galácticos to win the competition that is so entwined with their history. With half-time approaching and the scores level Roberto Carlos floated a high cross to Zinedine Zidane on the edge of the penalty area. Turning on to his weaker left foot, Zidane volleyed the ball into the top corner of Bayer Leverkusen’s goal.” (WSC)
Le Sacrifice de Polyxène, Jean Cousin le Père ou le Fils
“Wigan striker Hugo Rodallega’s eighth Premier League goal of the season put a huge dent in Liverpool’s top-four aspirations at the DW Stadium. The Colombia international volleyed home Emmerson Boyce’s 35th-minute cross after Dirk Kuyt had needlessly given away possession close to his own penalty area. Liverpool showed little of the quality required for a place in the Champions League once Fernando Torres had hit a post in the eighth minute and the Latics were well worth their victory.” (ESPN)
Gerrard in hot water following Marriner incident
“Steven Gerrard’s conduct is under scrutiny on Tuesday morning but Rafael Benitez insists he did not see the incident in which his captain is alleged to have made a crude gesture towards referee Andre Marriner during Liverpool’s defeat to Wigan. A photo of Gerrard’s alleged insult adorns the back page of multiple newspapers in England, with reports indicating the midfielder could be the subject of disciplinary action from the Football Association. Gerrard also appeared to mouth an obscenity after being booked for a challenge on James McCarthy.” (ESPN)
Rafael Benítez: Liverpool ‘played without intelligence’
“Rafael Benítez cut a dejected figure as Liverpool’s Champions League ambitions suffered a serious setback with a 1-0 defeat at Wigan Athletic last night, though he mustered enough venom to condemn his players for the attitude and lack of character they displayed at the DW Stadium. ‘We didn’t show the right attitude and even though we worked harder in the second half, we played without game intelligence,’ complained the Liverpool manager.” (Guardian)
Fan Diary #28 – Liverpool at Wigan: Give Me Some Triangles
“Last night I hunted down a clip on my 501 goals DVD. It’s Liverpool’s Craig Johnston talking sometime in the 80s about Liverpool’s approach…” (EPL Talk)
You’ve heard this story before
“Honestly, the worst thing about losing a match at such a vital part of the season is to move on and do a damn write-up about it. And having endured the travails numerous times before never makes it easier, but at times like these role-playing as a critic warrants my presence. To say Liverpool played badly is an understatement. No excuse today. We had the main men we always needed. And yet to blow it off even as push comes to shove is an utter disappointment.” (BigFourZa)
Wigan Athletic vs. Liverpool: Video
(footytube)
“Slowly, a behind-the-scenes footballing revolution is growing. Whether it’s Portsmouth’s ongoing demise, the Glazers burdening Manchester United with hundreds of millions of pounds with of debt, Hicks and Gillett at Liverpool, Ashley at Newcastle or, lower down, the Vaughan family taking Chester City to the wall, the spotlight has well and truly turned on the owners. And with fans becoming more alarmed at the mismanagement of their clubs at boardroom level, supporters are asking whether it’s time that the fans took control of their clubs.” (Pitch Invasion)
“There are two sides of Fiorentina. There is the inconsistent Italian Serie A team that has won only three of its eleven games in 2010. And there is the European Champions League contender that won five of six games to finish top of Group E and qualify for the Round of 16. Which group of purple-clad soccer players will take the field in Florence on Tuesday against Bundesliga juggernaut Bayern Munich remains to be seen, but Coach Cesare Prandelli is boisterously optimistic.” (NYT)
“The warm-up work could hardly have gone better for the South American World Cup sides in action last week. Paraguay had trouble finding opposition and had to settle for a visit to Athletic Bilbao, who fielded an under strength side. No problem. Coach Gerardo Martino had plenty to smile about after his side’s 3-1 win.” (BBC – Tim Vickery)
“This week’s Video Of The Week is another episode of the ‘Frontline Football’ series from 2006, featuring a World Cup qualifying match between Palestine and Iraq. The Palestinian national team was not officially recognised by FIFA until 1998, but their qualifying group for the 2006 World Cup saw them briefly head their AFC qualifying group after an 8-0 win against Taiwan.” (twohundredpercent)
“World soccer’s governing body moved from consideration to decisiveness Saturday, abandoning experiments with technology and firmly ruling out the use of video review or goal-line sensors. The International Football Association Board said Saturday: ‘The question posed to the members of the IFAB was simple: should we introduce technology in football or not? The answer from the majority of members was no, even if was not unanimous.’” (NYT)
“The pod squad is suited and booted for your brand new Football Weekly. We start with the FA Cup, where Harry Redknapp could be set for another encounter with Portsmouth, and Aston Villa came from behind against Reading to set up a semi-final with Chelsea – for whom John Terry was the perfect gentleman in his victory celebration and post-match interview. Barry Glendenning gives his thoughts.” (Guardian – James Richardson)
“Making an academic career out of studying soccer might sound (kind of like) fun, but it turns out to be hard work—mostly because you tend to get dissed from all sides. Here’s how Peter Alegi and Chris Bolsmann explain it in their introduction to South Africa and the Global Game, a forthcoming edited collection of scholarly essays addressing issues around the coming World Cup.” (Pitch Invasion)
“A year ago, before Real Madrid went to the banks to borrow money at what seemed a reckless rate, there was no comparison between it and the other Spanish monolith, Barcelona. Barça was on its way to a historic clean sweep of six trophies, including the Spanish, European and World club titles. More than that, its soccer was so stylish, so uninhibited, that no team on earth could touch it.” (NYT)
“The Stade Sylvio Cator, Haiti’s national soccer stadium, is a low concrete building with floodlights poking skyward on the Rue Oswald Durand, across the street from a cemetery. It comes out of nowhere, like a small college football stadium crammed into the capital’s downtown. Tall archways with tight turnstiles lead inside, where the good seats are red-and-yellow plastic in the covered section by the midfield line. The rest are old-school standing-room terraces. They’ve been baking in the sun since 1960. Seven weeks ago, after Haiti convulsed, it all turned into an improvised refugee camp.” (SI)
“The England manager will call a team meeting of all 30 players in his provisional World Cup squad after the May 30 friendly with Japan to announce which seven players will miss out on the trip to South Africa. Rather than tell each of the seven dropped players on an individual basis, Capello will read out his 23-man squad list to the group either at the team hotel after the game or possibly even on the flight back to London that evening.” (Telegraph)
1994 World Cup Gold
“So, there are just ninety-eight days left until the start of the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa. As a very small number of you may be aware, this site started out as a World Cup site almost four years ago and we plan to mark the coming of our second World Cup finals with a build-up to and coverage of the tournament that will make your eyes and ears bleed with their luxuriousness. Some of you may note a slight change of tone over our coverage of the World Cup – there may be a tendency for this site to let its hair down for the World Cup and treat it with the curious mixture of mockery and reverence that it deserves.” (twohundredpercent)
“Nigeria has appointed Swede Lars Lagerback as their new national team coach on a five-month contract. I’m still trying to figure out why. I wrote an earlier piece about African nations’ perpetual need to hire foreigners to lead African teams. With the firing of Nigerian Shaibu Amodu, there’s only one remaining African coach poised to lead a side at Africa’s first World Cup, Algeria’s Rabah Saadane.” (Nutmeg Radio)
“AS Roma and AC Milan met in the Italian Serie A with both teams looking to keep their Scudetto hopes alive. Milan is now four points back of Inter Milan and could close that gap to one with a win at AS Roma. Roma could move back to within four points and tied on points with Milan if they were to win. Both teams are several points above 4th place and likely to earn a Champions League spot for next season.” (The 90th Minute)
“A common strategy for managers taking a team up into the Premier League is to “give the lads who got us there half a season, it it doesn’t work, bring in new blood”. A parallel technique has largely been used over the past couple of seasons on descending into the Championship. Newcastle decided to bank on those who ushered the club down to usher them back up and this is a policy that appears largely to have succeeded. True, some particularly coveted jewels were offloaded in Owen and Martins, but the Magpies’ decided to gamble on an automatic return.” (thetwounfortunates)
Bulgaria, 1994
“Here’s the dirty little secret about the World Cup: It’s the world’s biggest sporting event, but most of the world doesn’t actually do very well at the tournament. The World Cup has been held 10 times since 1970, and just six countries account for the 20 spots in the championship games: Germany/West Germany with five, Brazil and Italy with four each, Argentina with three, and France and the Netherlands with two each.” (ESPN)
“French football may not be regarded as one of the financial powerhouses of the European game, but you really shouldn’t feel too sorry for the players plying their trade in Ligue 1 at the moment. Take Moussa Sow, for example. The Rennes striker (three league goals in 20 matches so far this season and with just the barest handful of international selections for Senegal to his name) has opted to join Lille when he becomes a free agent in June.” (World Soccer)
“Barcelona twice came from behind to win a point at Almeria in a match blighted by some bizarre refereeing decisions from Carlos Clos Gomez. Clos Gomez delayed the start of the match for almost a quarter of an hour, harshly sent off Pep Guardiola and Zlatan Ibrahimovic and incorrectly awarded a free-kick to Barcelona which led to their first equaliser.” (ESPN)
Almeria vs Barca Match Report
(All About FC Barcelona)
“It’s been a week of bizarre contrasts in preparing for World Cup commentaries without forgetting the pressing need to keep on top of the Premier league scene. Michael Owen’s latest injury nightmare took me back to a hot evening in St Etienne 12 years ago. England’s penalty shoot-out defeat by Argentina remains one of the most dramatic games I have ever covered. Owen’s scintillating goal had the tournament gasping in awe – he had the world at his feet.” (BBC)
“There are few more poignant sights in football than the goalkeeper that has just conceded a goal, and most goalkeepers will experience this on average once a match, if not more. It’s a small wonder that more of them don’t go insane with the existential angst of it all. Covered in the dirt that acts as a visual metaphor for the futility of their attempt to keep the ball out of their goal, they will turn and trudge back towards the goal, maybe lifting the net to pick the ball out and kicking the ball disconsolately yet angrily back towards the halfway line and standing, hands on their hips, replaying what has just happened over in their mind.” (twohundredpercent)
“The United States fell 2-1 to the Netherlands on Wednesday night in an international friendly. Liverpool striker Dirk Kuyt notched the hosts’ first goal from the penalty spot in the 40th minute following Jonathan Bornstein’s foul on Wesley Sneijder’s in the box.” (Football Fashion)
“The halcyon days of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s were apparently a boom time in England’s glorious history of great goalkeepers. From the benchmark that was the great Gordon Banks and his understudy, Peter Springett, to the rotation of Ray Clemence and Peter Shilton in the 70’s and early 1980’s, England always had a top class goalkeeper.” (EPL Talk)
“The German shoe and sportswear company, Puma, sponsors at least 12 African national football teams–five of which qualified for the 2010 World Cup. To commemorate the World Cup year (and because it is good PR and to sell shirts), Puma commissioned artist Kehinde Wiley to create four new works of arts inspired by the footbal stars Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon, John Mensah of Ghana and Emmanuel Eboué of Ivory Coast.” (Football is Coming Home)
“Click to enlarge, and debate the strip below the line. Keith Hackett’s official answers appear in Sunday’s Observer and here from Monday.” (Guardian – Paul Trevillion)
“The 2010 Russian Premier League begins on 11th March, with most first round matches on the weekend of 13-14 March. Click on the following for fixtures, etc., Russian premier League 2010 season, fixtures and table (Soccerway.com). Reigning champions are now-twice-straight winners Rubin Kazan of the Republic of Tatarstan. Cynics in Russia are starting to admit this squad is for real, and maybe now the Russia national team will stop snubbing their players.” (billsportsmaps)
Wikipedia – “The Philosophers’ Football Match is a Monty Python sketch depicting a football match in the Olympiastadion at the 1972 Munich Olympics between philosophers representing Greece and Germany. Starring in the sketch are Archimedes (John Cleese), Socrates (Eric Idle), Hegel (Graham Chapman), Nietzsche (Michael Palin), Marx (Terry Jones) and Kant (Terry Gilliam).”
(Wikipedia), (Philosophers Football), (Telegraph)
“As the big countdown ticks away, less than 100 days before the World Cup, perhaps Africa’s strongest team, Ivory Coast, is still without a coach. An article in the Zimbabwean brings up the state of African football and its reliance on foreign coaches. In Cote D’Ivoire, the disgruntled Vahid Halilhodžić was unceremoniously dispensed with following an unsuccessful run at the African Cup of Nations (despite having lost only one match during his two-year tenure).” (Soccer Politics)
“Roll up, roll up. It’s the biggest circus in town. This year, without a single ball having been kicked, hasn’t been a terribly successfully one for England so far. On the one hand, there were the varying discretions of members of the England team – John Terry offering his own special brand of comfort to Wayne Bridge’s recently separated former partner and Ashley Cole reportedly sending pictures of “Little Ashley” to some poor girl – which led to national hand-wringing in the press, followed by Ashley fracturing a bone (no, not that one) and Wayne deciding that he couldn’t bear to be in the same England team as John.” (twohundredpercent)
“Rehearsals are not everyone’s cup of tea. The Germans and Italians, for example, seldom show up in body and soul for them. Yet this is World Cup year, and on Wednesday their people paid top dollar to see those nationals teams, and others, go through the motions. It didn’t always have the desired effect. More than 60,000 people in Algiers saw their heroes, who are going to the World Cup, succumb, 3-0, to Serbia, which is also playing in the finals.” (NYT)
“Nobody can call Raymond Domenech’s tenure as France manager boring. Following yet more calls from the Stade de France faithful for him to resign during the 2-0 home defeat to Spain midweek, even French politicians are now trying to get him the sack. The discontent surrounding all parts of the national team has never really lifted since his surprise appointment in 2004. This is despite Domenech taking France to a World Cup final in 2006, which arguably they would have won had the talismanic Zinedine Zidane not got himself sent off.” (WSC)
“Just as Italian football will always be synonymous with a certain degree of cynicism and Hungary, no matter how far they tumble down the world rankings, will always stir the soul of the romantic, so Greece’s gritty triumph at Euro 2004 means their football will forever be associated with pragmatism and dogged determination.” (Football Further)
“With as near as he can manage to understatement, Richard Scudamore confirmed this afternoon that his idea of play-off matches for the fourth Champions League place will not be taken any further forward – for now. It was something of a surprising decision. Unlike Game 39, this new idea didn’t require a great deal of support from outside of the Premier League. The smaller clubs, it was assumed, would sell their grandmothers for a sliver of a chance of getting into the qualifying rounds of the Champions League and the big clubs – who were obviously keen not to see their hegemony broken up – were against it, but didn’t hold enough of a blocking vote to prevent it from going through.” (twohundredpercent)
“Nemanja Vidic should have been sent off for his foul on Gabriel Agbonlahor in Sunday’s Carling Cup final. Aston Villa’s manager, Martin O’Neill, said it. Villa’s players thought so too and their fans were convinced. Even Sir Alex Ferguson admitted that Manchester United got a lucky break after the Serb conceded the penalty from which James Milner gave Villa the lead.” (WSC)
The tribute money: Peter finding the silver coin in the mouth of the fish, Jacobs Jordaens
“Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat of Blackburn on Sunday sparked fresh recriminations about the playing style of Sam Allardyce’s side, with Rafael Benitez sarcastically observing: ‘I think it is a model for all the managers around the world, their style of football.’ That Blackburn are a hard-working, physical side is no secret. Allardyce, though, has taken umbrage at criticisms of their football in recent weeks.” (Football Further)
“During the course of my research for this piece, I discovered that my planned intro, Jerry Seinfeld’s bit about how supporting a team was tantamount to “rooting for laundry” has already descended – or should that be ascended? – to the level of cliche. That’s what I get for being late to Seinfeld, I suppose. Still, every cliche has a kernel of truth (as the cliche has it), so let us anyway remind ourselves of precisely what he said…” (Norman Einsteins)
“Think of the greats of Brazilian football and you will probably come up with Pele, Garrincha, Rivelino, Socrates – players full of flair, skill and vision. In short, geniuses. The name of Dunga, however, wouldn’t necessarily be on the tip of your tongue. A nuggety defensive midfielder who cut his teeth in Italian football and prizes tactics above flamboyance does not quite fit the Brazilian stereotype.” (BBC)
“Kris Boyd ended his self-imposed international exile but it was Scott Brown who was the unlikely goal hero as Craig Levein claimed a win from his first game as Scotland manager. Brown grabbed the only goal of the game against Czech Republic to hand the Scots their first friendly win at Hampden Park since victory over Australia back in 1996.” (ESPN)
Levein starts as he means to go on
“It was by no means a textbook performance but Craig Levein’s reign as Scotland manager is off to a winning start and that is all that counts. The members of the Tartan Army who braved a cold March evening to make it along to Hampden Park will never remember the friendly encounter with Czech Republic as a classic but it is the result that matters.” (ESPN)
“DaMarcus Beasley may have boosted his World Cup chances. Jonathan Bornstein and Robbie Findlay did nothing to help theirs. And Stuart Holden joined the long U.S. injured list. The United States fell flat in Europe once again, losing to the third-ranked Netherlands 2-1 Wednesday night in the Americans’ last match before coach Bob Bradley picks his World Cup roster.” (NYT)
“England played Egypt as a way of warming up for their World Cup clash with Algeria on 18 June, so one wonders what exactly coach Fabio Capello learnt about North African opposition after his side’s 3-1 win. For his players, the experience would have been invaluable because England haven’t faced such opposition since beating Morocco 1-0 in 1998 – a game only Michael Owen is likely to remember from among the current squad.” (BBC)
“Relations between France and Algeria have always been a bit tricky. This isn’t the place to discuss the specifics, but there’s a whole Wikipedia page about Algeria–France relations if you want to read up. Despite said trickiness, there is one man who can claim to be loved in both countries: Zinedine Zidane.” (World Cup Blog)
“These are strange, bittersweet times for soccer fans in Peru. Other national teams and their players will seize this week, the last FIFA date for international friendlies until the end of the season, to prep for the World Cup. Not Peru. (SI – Tim Vickery)
“Faced with their toughest opponent for a generation, Europe’s leading football clubs have been forced to adopt a new tactic: frugality. Creditors have caught up with the beautiful game in recent weeks, raising fears that spiraling wages and reckless spending could put the future of some of the world’s most iconic teams at risk.” (WSJ)
“Here’s the thing about soccer: When it comes to innovation and creativity, there’s Brazil and then there’s everybody else. To stop the Brazilians, you can try to overwhelm them (good luck with that) or try to steal their techniques. If that doesn’t work, all you can do is change the rules. This weekend in Zurich, as it makes final preparations for June’s World Cup, soccer’s main rule-making body will discuss the latest controversial bit of Brazilian magic: a devastating penalty-kick maneuver known as the paradinha.” (WSJ)
Landon Donovan
“The United States on Wednesday will be decked out in its new threads, courtesy of Nike, for its friendly match against the Netherlands at the Amsterdam Arena. The day before, the calendar clicked below 100 days until the start of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.” (NYT)
“On March 3 Slovakia play Norway in a friendly. There should be a sell-out crowd in Zilina in full patriotic voice since the match will be Slovakia’s last at home before their first appearance as an independent nation at the final stages of a major tournament. That they are going to the 2010 World Cup is in no small measure down to the hard work and occasional genius of their coach, Vladimir Weiss Senior.” (WSC)
“Just hours after England manager Fabio Capello cited the large amounts of money paid to top players as a cause for concern in the modern game, football fans all over the country were shocked by the sudden death of Macclesfield manager Keith Alexander. Whilst he had previously suffered health problems, his death at just 53 years of age puts the hyperbole surrounding every aspect of our national sport into perspective.” (thetwounfortunates)
“Sometimes you wonder why you’ve been wasting all your bloody time every day for the past three years writing and linking to pieces about issues of club ownership, club identity (versus club brand) and the difference between being a supporter and being a fan. As we’ve haphazardly been doing here since 2007.” (Pitch Invasion)
“Hidden away in the back pages of a couple of local newspapers, another football club is dying. It’s a club that has been to the brink before and, unlike, other, bigger clubs that have faced financial problems this season, they haven’t exactly hogged the headlines over the last couple years or so.” (twohundredpercent)
Abou Diaby
“An article by Jonathan Wilson in the Guardian today asks an interesting question for those of us who grew up in an era in which West African football was the realm of skilled artists such as Abedi Pele, George Weah, Roger Milla, and exciting teams like the ‘original’ Nigerian Super Eagles who played swashbuckling, imaginative football. In a piece that starts out by discussing Egypt’s tactical formation (very interesting as well), he goes on to ask…” (Soccer Politics)
“Fabio Capello urgently needs the supporters to back all the players against Egypt, resisting any temptation to boo John Terry. Welcome to the 90 minutes that will define the mood surrounding England going into the World Cup. Judging by the critical disposition of certain sections of England’s support, there is a desire to voice, however briefly, some disapproval of Terry’s conduct.” (Telegraph – Henry Winter)
“I know I’m not the only one who isn’t really looking forward to the World Cup. But your reasons will be different from mine. I don’t enjoy tournaments which feature home nations – too tense, too much hoopla. And I enjoy ones with only England in even less – the loneliness leaves them even more exposed than they already were. Oh, to be in 1998, in the summertime, with a beer.” (More Than Mind Games)
Florentino Peréz
“In the summer of 2009, Real Madrid sent shockwaves around the world by spending an estimated €252 million pounds. After FC Barcelona dominated Spain in 2008-2009, winning an unprecedented treble, Florentino Peréz felt it was essential to topple the Catalan giants.” (Just Football)
“SimonK… Liverpool seemed to play a little rubbish during the beginning of the game though great game. And of course, MotM should go to Reina. Saved the day!” (footytube)
“Noticing the lack of decent writing about the post-devolution Scottish experience, Gary Hassan turns his attention to the superior insights available in – of all places – recent books about Scottish football…” (More Than Mind Games)
“Tactical talk is all the rage nowadays thanks to books like Jonathan Wilson’s Inverting the Pyramid, an enlightening read on the history of tactics and the philosophy of formations that taught me many things I never knew. World Soccer magazine sometimes runs a double-page spread outlining one coach’s tactical history with every club he’s managed. It’s all fascinating stuff. However, I confess that I recently let my decade-long subscription lapse. Such features made my heart feel heavy with a sense of duty rather than of joy when I picked the magazine out of my postbox – I could frankly not care less how Frank Rijkaard’s 2001-02 Sparta Rotterdam team lined up.” (WSC: Talking of tactics, WSC: Inverting the Pyramid)
“Italian Serie A leaders Inter Milan looked to rebound from a draw last week with a trip to face Udinese on Sunday, February 28, 2010. They lead AC Milan by four points heading into the weekend and looking to get their fifth consecutive Scudetto. Udinese were just above the relegation zone and in need of points.” (The 90th Minute)
“This week is the last for international friendies before the end of the season. It’s the final chance for fringe players to push their claims for a World Cup place. Chile thought they had found the perfect way to give all their players the opportunity to show their stuff with a double-header on Wednesday against Costa Rica and North Korea, one after the other. But then the country was struck by Saturday’s massive earthquake and amid the chaos and confusion the matches could clearly not go ahead.” (BBC – Tim Vickery)
The Sweeper: Chile’s Earthquake and the World Cup
“Following the devastating earthquake there this weekend, Chile unsurprisingly cancelled two international friendlies scheduled for this Wednesday as part of their World Cup preparations. Few in Chile right now will be thinking about football with more than 700 dead.” (Pitch Invasion)
“Liverpool striker Fernando Torres marked his first start since January 13 by scoring the winner in an ill-tempered 2-1 victory over Blackburn at Anfield. The Spain international hit his 13th goal in 17 Premier League appearances just before half-time, having missed five weeks at the start of the year after a knee operation. Liverpool had gone ahead midway through the half through Steven Gerrard only for Jamie Carragher’s handball to allow Keith Andrews to equalise from the penalty spot five minutes before the interval.” (ESPN)
Benitez fires volley at Allardyce as Reds win
“On the final whistle, they shook hands with the briefest of touches and then hostilities between Rafael Benitez and Sam Allardyce resumed. It had been a close enough contest for there to be no danger of the Liverpool manager crossing his hands to indicate the match was over after 33 minutes, which had so incensed Allardyce when Blackburn last visited Anfield.” (Independent)
Fernando Torres wants as much playing time as possible for Spain
“Fernando Torres is keen for as much international playing time as possible despite the Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez’s concerns over the striker, who has recently returned from a lengthy lay-off after knee surgery. Benítez will hope Torres returns from Spain without picking up any new knocks in the European champions’ friendly against France on Wednesday.” (Guardian)
Scissors Kick 