| Matthew Leckie great white hope for Australia First to worst. And to add salt to injury, Sydney FC don't have a single player who ranks anywhere near the top of the A-League this season. foxsports.com.au |
Young still aiming to shine for England The Aston Villa forward believes it is still not too late for him to succeed at international levelAshley Young sits hunched over, arms crossed, defensive, reluctantly answering questions about a stunted England career. At the age of 25, Young has played only 256 minutes of senior international football, stretched over a period of three years. For a bright young thing once tipped to set the world on fire, it does not seem enough."Of course I have aspirations and ambitions to play for my country," says the winger for whom Aston Villa paid £9.65m in January 2007. "Fingers crossed, I can get myself into the team, but I am delighted to be in the squad and if the chance comes [to play] I am going to grab it with two hands."He will need to. After coming on as a half-time substitute in the friendly against Hungary at Wembley two months ago, Fabio Capello praised Young's contribution; but since then he has appeared for only three minutes in an England shirt, against Bulgaria.How much would it mean to him to play in a Euro 2012 qualifier against Montenegro tomorrow night? The words inscribed on his inner forearms, in fine curlicue, reveal more than he is prepared to say out loud. "What is not worth fighting for is not worth having", reads one, and along the other arm, "What doesn't kill you will only make you stronger". So how much did it "kill" him to miss out on being included in the World Cup squad?"It was a disappointment, but you have to put it to the back of your mind and have the strength of character to say it is a disappointment and build on that." Has he done himself justice in an England shirt? "I think I have done. I would have liked to have added a few more caps. Hopefully, fingers crossed, I can do that."There are some important qualifiers coming up and I want to be involved in them. I have to focus on my training and see what happens on Tuesday."Some have wondered if a change of position might be the answer. His club manager Gérard Houllier described Young as potential "world-class" material after he began playing through the middle, off the striker, at Aston Villa."I have been delighted to be able to play there and feel I have been more involved for Villa and it has helped us," says Young, while in the same breath refusing to pigeon hole himself. "I see myself as a versatile player, whether a manager tells me to play through the middle, right or left of even up front, I definitely know I can go out there and do a job."The "world-class" part of Houllier's comment, he ignores. Young has had several years of being showered with praise – he says he learned to take the former Villa manager Martin O'Neill's frequent outpourings with a "pinch of salt", perhaps a sensible option for a player who never quite seemed to reach his potential. Now, could a fully fledged international career be passing him by?"I think age is just a number – if you are young enough, you are old enough – as long as you are good enough age shouldn't come into it. Not everyone in the squad is the same age," he says, perhaps thinking of Kevin Davies, who has just received his first England call-up at the age of 33. "It just shows that if you are playing well the manager is going to play you."Young's international career is balanced on a knife edge, it is make or break time. Is he ever affected by nerves? "Never," says Young, with a steely glare. When was the last time he was nervous? He chuckles."When I made my debut [for Watford, against Millwall, in 2003], that's the only time … Kevin Muscat's first words to me [during the warm up] were: 'Don't go past me or I will break your legs.' But the nerves just left me and I concentrated on playing well. I did go past him and I scored as well."With brutal tackles the topic de jour in football these days, Young is soon pressed on how much aggression he has had to endure in his career. "I am one of those players who has many scars up and down my legs from being kicked, but I know I have a job to do and beating my opponent is my goal. I wouldn't say I get the scars every week, but you do get fouled as a winger … you have to concentrate on brushing it off and going again."Brushing it off and going again, that has become Young's blueprint for a senior England career. He will just have to hope it is enough.EnglandAnna Kesselguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Ronaldo scores four for Real Cristiano Ronaldo scores four goals as Real Madrid record a thumping 6-1 home win over Racing Santander. foxsports.com.au |
Five things we learned from the Premier League this weekend | Barney Ronay Peter Crouch appears to have been found out, Chelsea can live without Frank Lampard and Liverpool: the bald facts1) The Premier League can deal with Peter CrouchCrouch had a peculiar game against Everton on Saturday. Aggressively double marked at set pieces, with one defender in front and one behind, he was repeatedly buffeted to the ground as the ball was delivered, losing out not by foul play but by his own inability to compete at the jostling and ground-standing aspects of what is still a contact sport. By the end Crouch appeared to have spent most of the game either flat on his back or appealing to the referee for a (non-existent) foul. He did set up Rafael van der Vaart's tap-in with a deflection off his thigh. He also never stopped trying. But the increasing impression is that Crouch may be a busted flush at this level.Here are the headline stats: in the past three seasons Crouch has scored 19 goals in 84 Premier League matches. In other competitions, against teams less familiar with his strength and weaknesses, he has scored 22 goals in 37 games. This is an astonishing disparity in strike rates, particularly given that most "other" games are either internationals or European matches. It suggests that Premier League teams know how to cope with Crouch; that as a player he has failed to develop new strings and tricks; and that perhaps he is now finding it difficult physically. We don't have much insight into the effects of age on the Crouch-style physique, mainly because the Crouch-style physique is pretty much confined to one man: Crouch. But at 29 the lack of pace looks to be becoming chronic. He seems less flexible too. Perhaps we should simply be praising Crouch's ability to extract a fine career against the odds. But the facts are plain: over the past three years Crouch has been the scourge of strangers while among friends he fails to make a mark.2) Manchester City have pluckCity were hard done by yesterday, a 3-0 defeat by Arsenal not really a fair reflection of the game. What is undoubted however, is that while City may be a "project", an ersatz construction of scattergun expenditure, they do have a great team spirit and commitment to the cause. It is part of the beauty of football, its capacity to retain something honest and indivisible even in the most corporate climate, that teams hurled together along the billionaire's-plaything template often do have this spirit. Expensive players are expensive players for a reason, and the best will bring with them qualities beyond the ability to juggle a ball.At Blackburn the Premier League-winning team that Jack Walker bought was notable for its spirit above all. Similarly Chelsea's success of the early Roman Abramovich years was notable for the closeness within the camp. It seems new-build teams such as these need a rallying point player, a leader who sets the tone. Blackburn had Colin Hendry, Chelsea have John Terry. For City this player seems to be Carlos Tevez, a leader from the front. City will be encouraged by their performance with 10 men. We know they have fine players. But this is also a team with pluck and one that looks well-suited to lasting the course.3) A post-Lampard Chelsea may be closer than we thinkChelsea are a wonderfully potent force at Stamford Bridge: after the 2-0 defeat of Wolves, the past 38 Premier League goals there have all been scored by the home team (John Carew, back in March, if you're asking). On Saturday the most interesting goal was the second one scored by Salomon Kalou, a beautifully worked move through midfield involving Mikel John Obi and Michael Essien. It was the kind of goal in previous seasons you might have expected Frank Lampard to be involved in, but Chelsea seem to be learning to play without their leading midfielder of the past six years.Of 16 home league goals this season, Lampard has scored one. Since his injury in August Chelsea have lost to Manchester City and drawn with Aston Villa, but they have looked strong in central areas where Essien has been able to express his wonderfully muscular talents further forward. And maybe it is time to contemplate the idea of a post-Lampard Chelsea. In a newspaper interview recently he spoke openly about the sacrifices he has made since childhood to overcome an innate lack of athleticism, speed and even – surprisingly – stamina. Lampard has trained with zeal and given everything in (get this) 680 career first-team matches. He is also 32 years old. The Chelsea team place great emphasis on attacking down the flanks and the interplay of the front three. Lampard will no doubt slot straight back in, but they no longer rely on him quite so much.4) Joey Barton might be the new Jimmy BullardThe most notable aspect of Newcastle's victory at Upton Park appeared to be the limpness of the home team in the second half. But credit should be given to the victors who pressed high up the pitch and unnerved West Ham with their organisation. Plus, they had Joey Barton, who ran the game in the second half, bantered confidently with the crowd, set up the winning goal, and looked at times oddly reminiscent of the Jimmy Bullard of a few seasons ago, a player capable of leading his team to safety though a combination of ability and infectious bravado. Bullard, of course, has great charm, a quality Barton has never quite seemed to master. He has behaved terribly in the past. But there is something commendable in his refusal to fade away and his performance at Upton Park will be a significant personal high water mark. An unlikely cult of popularity – the Bullard-style shampoo adverts – might take a little longer. But football is a strange game and there was something oddly captivating about his presence on Saturday.5) Liverpool: the bald factsRoy Hodgson has seen the future: and the future is bald. This is surely the baldest Liverpool team in living memory. A bald spine runs through it, from Pepe Reina, through Paul Konchesky, Raul Meireles, and the career-bald tyro Jonjo Shelvey. Against Blackburn there was something compelling about all this baldness, the furious waves of bald counterattack, the joyously bald post-goal pile-ons. Liverpool teams seem more susceptible than most to the idea of a folically defined sense of era. The great teams of the late 1970s and early 1980s seemed to express their air of pan-European glamour through the preening modernism of the bubble perm. The foppishness of aspects of the Roy Evans era came out in their tendency towards the floppy-on-top public school 'do. This is a time of rebuilding, hard work and retrenchment. Somehow the baldness of the current squad seems oddly fitting, indicating an absence of frippery and a sleeves-rolled-up readiness that was there against Blackburn. Hodgson will be encouraged. Not just by the score, but also by the bald refusal to buckle in chasing a winner.Premier LeagueBarney Ronayguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Nigerian federation says lawsuit dismissed A lawsuit against the Nigerian football federation was dismissed Monday, an official said, which could help the country avoid a suspension by ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |