| Capello hands first call-up to Davies and gives Green recall • Rio Ferdinand recalled by Fabio Capello• Jack Wilshere and Rob Green also in squad to face MontenegroKevin Davies, the 33-year-old Bolton Wanderers striker, has earned his first formal England call-up to a squad that also features Robert Green, Jack Wilshere and Wayne Rooney.Fabio Capello's squad for the Euro 2012 qualifier with Montenegro at Wembley tomorrow week is littered with surprises, and includes recalls for Joe Cole, Green, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry and Aaron Lennon.But it is the inclusion of Davies that will raise the most eyebrows as England look to maintain their 100% start to Group G.Ahead of Bolton's Premier League draw with Manchester United last month, Davies spoke of his unfulfilled international ambitions. "I was in the expanded squad a couple of times but even when a few players pulled out and I thought I had a chance, someone else got called up," he said.Little did he know at the time that Capello was looking at him closely.And, while Rooney has been given the green light to join up, with Bobby Zamora and Gabriel Agbonlahor ruled out through injury, Emile Heskey refusing to end his international retirement and Andy Carroll bypassed after a recent dip in form at Newcastle, Davies has shot ahead in the queue.Whether a player who has served Bolton for seven full seasons actually gets to make an appearance remains to be seen.Only this morning, quotes have been released by the FA confirming the Italian's belief that Darren Bent could be a pivotal player in the future, while Peter Crouch – also named in the squad – went to the World Cup.Indeed, counting Ferdinand, 14 members of Capello's World Cup squad are named, including Cole and Lennon, who have not been selected since.Cole has endured a far from smooth ride since his arrival at Liverpool from Chelsea, and his dismissal on his Premier League debut against Arsenal in August and the suspension that followed were contributing factors to his missing the qualifiers against Bulgaria and Switzerland.Both of those were won, with Phil Jagielka contributing towering central-defensive performances in the absence of Ferdinand and Terry.As Jagielka keeps his place, Capello faces a tricky dilemma when he names his line-up. The same could also be said of the captaincy, given the mature manner in which Steven Gerrard handled the fall-out from Rooney's off-field problems last month.In addition, Ferdinand has been overlooked for the honour at Manchester Uniteddue to his questionable fitness record.For Green, it will be a chance to show he can recover from the nightmare handling error against the USA at the World Cup last summer, which set the tone for England's dismal campaign.With James Milner suspended, Wilshere gets a call, although he will only report for duty after England's Under-21 Championship play-off first leg against Romania at Norwich on Friday, while Tom Huddlestone has been rewarded for his fine form for Tottenham Hotspur.England squad for European qualifier against Montenegro on 12 OctoberGoalkeepers: Ben Foster (Birmingham City), Robert Green (West Ham United), Joe Hart (Manchester City)Defenders Ashley Cole (Chelsea), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Joleon Lescott (Manchester City), John Terry (Chelsea), Stephen Warnock (Aston Villa)Midfielders Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Joe Cole (Liverpool), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham Hotspur), Adam Johnson (Manchester City), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City), Ashley Young (Aston Villa)Forwards Darren Bent (Sunderland), Peter Crouch (Tottenham Hotspur), Kevin Davies (Bolton Wanderers), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United)EnglandRio FerdinandFabio CapelloJames Callowguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Liverpool not too big for relegation battle, says Roy Hodgson, after Blackpool loss Liverpool manager admits he has plenty of work to do to drag his side out of the mess they have created. telegraph.co.uk |
Sweden back in football's dark ages Violence in the stands, threats to players and coaches, and poor quality on the pitch are blighting Swedish footballThe Swedish football season is dragging itself towards the finishing line and, when the league finally ends on 7 November, maybe the violence will stop too. Or perhaps it will just move on to the ice hockey.It has been a long season. AIK, last year's double winners, are involved in a relegation battle. The standard of the top flight is incredibly poor. All the Swedish teams were out of European competition before September. And just to complete the misery, one well-known player is standing trial for rape.But the saddest thing about the whole situation is the violence. Sweden appears to be where England was 30 years ago. There are fights before games, fights after games and fights during games. There are missiles. Anything goes.AIK's fans are deemed by many to be the worst. In August a group of AIK fans threw stones and bottles at the visiting Levski Sofia team bus and clashed with police following a Europa League qualifier. The Bulgarian club's media officer and a masseur were hit by stones while two players suffered cuts.The Levski president, Todor Batkov, was hit by a bottle. "It's shocking," he said. "Sweden is a civilised country and such scenes are completely inadmissible. I've been to so many countries and I've never seen such things." The Stockholm club were fined €60,000 (£52,750) but were probably expecting a more severe punishment as there had been incidents during a Champions League qualifier against Norwegian side Rosenborg just a few weeks earlier.AIK, who are coached by the former Rangers player Alex Miller, are not the only club in trouble. In the second division, Hammarby (also a Stockholm team) have been involved in unsavoury scenes this season and, during one away game against IFK Norrkoping, the family section of Parken had to be evacuated after fighting broke out.Hammarby were in the news last month when one of their co-managers, Michael Borgqvist, resigned after being threatened by the club's own fans. It is believed some of the texts sent to Borgqvist – a former AIK player – contained death threats. "The threats are criminal acts and we can't accept that so we have contacted the police," Hammarby's chief executive, Asa Sanemyr, said.Borgqvist's co-manager, the former Manchester United winger Jesper Blomqvist, said: "Michael and I have talked about everything this season so I knew there were threats. I haven't received any threats myself but you start to think about what kind of environment you are working in. Who wants to be a coach under these conditions? It is extremely sad."The problems are prevalent in the big cities, such as Gothenburg and Stockholm. AIK have had several managers in the past decade, such as Olle Nordin and Peter Larsson, who have had to leave after supporters put pressure on the board to sack them. This season the club appeared to bow to pressure from supporters to drop the player Walid Atta (although they claim he was left out of the team because he would not sign a new contract). After Atta had been dropped, AIK fans vandalised his car.Earlier this year, AIK fans approached players and the coach at the club's training ground to have "a chat" with the top people at the club, who then said: "What is said in such a meeting stays with the people at the meeting." It is a sign of how far things have gone.At the same time, attendances are dwindling. The most recent Stockholm derby between AIK and Djurgarden was watched by 18,500 spectators; a few years ago that number would have been well above 30,000.A recent survey, reported by the daily Svenska Dagbladet, showed that one in five Allsvenskan [the Swedish top flight] players have been threatened or bullied by fans. One in five! And for club officials the number was even higher: 31%.Tore Brännberg, a social psychology researcher at Gothenburg University, told Svenska Dagbladet: "The main thing today is not the fighting between fans but fans turning against their own clubs. The fans [we are seeing today] think differently and see this as their religion, where AIK, IFK Gothenburg, Malmo or whatever team it is, is the most important thing in their life. And when things go badly they feel that they have to act."Will next season be better? I doubt it. No one is prepared to take responsibility – neither the clubs nor the authorities. Fans who are caught vandalising or fighting are not given tough enough punishments. There is no deterrent.Sepp Blatter this week congratulated England on how the country has dealt with the hooligan problem. The Fifa president was, for once, right. In Sweden, meanwhile, everyone is wondering when and where the next act of hooliganism is going to take place.AIK SolnaEuropean footballMarcus Christensonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Wayne Rooney joins list of players who have fallen foul of Sir Alex Ferguson Players who have been booted out of Old Trafford have their say. telegraph.co.uk |
City plot £100 million Rooney deal Manchester City are poised to sign Wayne Rooney in a £100 million transfer deal, according to the Daily Mirror in England. foxsports.com.au |