EURO 2008 Qualification news and updates

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Chelsea And England Hit By Lampard Blow


Frank Lampard has picked up a thigh injury that has set both Chelsea and England back.



Frank Lampard has just undergone a scan to determine the true extent of a thigh injury picked up during training.
It has now been confirmed that the midfielder has suffered a tear in his thigh.
The exact amount of time he will have to spend on the sidelines is not known yet, but it is unlikely to be less than ten days in any case.
That means he will certainly miss Chelsea's clash against Aston Villa on Sunday, and is also unlikely to feature for England in their crucial Euro 2008 qualifiers against Israel and Russia.
Steve McClaren is already set to miss out on Steven Gerrard, who is also out with a toe injury.
The midfielder will not feature for Liverpool at the weekend; he will join up with the England squad, but is unlikely to feature against Israel.
As for Lampard, he has been in great form in August, and scored his fourth goal in ten days when he grabbed the winner against Portsmouth last Saturday.

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Donadoni Announces Squad For France Clash Italy coach Roberto Donadoni welcomes two new faces to his squad to face France in the Azzurri's must-win Euro 2008 clash. In comes Roma's Christian Panucci for a surprise recall, while Cagliari ace Pasquale Foggia receives his first call-up...


Roberto Donadoni has convened his first competitive squad since the retirement of Alessandro Nesta and Francesco Totti, with few changes from the recent pool of players that lost 3-1 to Hungary in a friendly encounter.

Along with the experienced spine of the team, though, are a couple of surprise names.

First is Christian Panucci. The vastly experienced Roma right-back has been out of the squad for some time, but has earned a recall in order to add some experience to the team.

Perhaps the injury and subsequent withdrawl of centre-back Marco Materazzi has something to do with it.

Second, a newcomer. Pasquale Foggia, who is finding form at Cagliari, on loan from Lazio, will join the senior squad for the first time, having been restricted to the U-20s and U-21s in the past.

The 24 year old winger started last season at the Stadio Olimpico before heading for Reggina on loan in the winter transfer window, catching Donadoni's imagination with a series of audacious performances on the flank and in attacking midfield.

Other than these two, there are no new namse in the squad, but a wealth of experience remains at Donadoni's disposal.

Full squad:

Goalkeepers
Abbiati (Atletico Madrid), Amelia (Livorno), Buffon (Juventus);

Defenders
Barzagli (Palermo), Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Chiellini (Juventus), Gamberini (Fiorentina), Grosso (Olympique Lyonnais), Oddo (Milan), Panucci (Roma), Zambrotta (Barcelona);

Midfielders
Ambrosini (Milan), Aquilani (Roma), Camoranesi (Juventus), De Rossi (Roma), Foggia (Cagliari), Gattuso (Milan), Perrotta (Roma), Pirlo (Milan);

Forwards
Del Piero (Juventus), Di Natale (Udinese), Inzaghi (Milan), Lucarelli (Shakhtar Donetsk), Quagliarella (Udinese), Toni (Bayern Munich).

[Azzuri]

Toni doubtful for Italy-France qualifier Luca Toni is looking doubtful and Christian Panucci appears poised to replace Marco Materazzi when Italy faces France on Saturday in European Championship qualifying.
Toni hurt his right thigh while playing for Bayern Munich on Aug. 25.
"To be fair, it's difficult for Toni," Italy coach Roberto Donadoni said Tuesday as the Azzurri opened training camp. "The exams yesterday still indicated a small (problem)."
Toni sat out Bayern's 1-1 draw with Hamburger SV on Sunday after scoring three goals in his first three games in the Bundesliga.
"Today he'll try training at 70 percent, and from his physical reaction, we'll evaluate if he can increase his workload tomorrow or if it will be better to preserve him for the next game in Ukraine," Donadoni said, according to the ANSA news agency.
Italy faces Ukraine in Group B four days after hosting France at San Siro in Milan.
France leads the group with 18 points. Italy is next with 16 points, followed by Scotland with 15 and Ukraine with 12.
France beat Italy a year ago in qualifying, two months after Italy had the edge on penalties in the World Cup final.
If Toni doesn't play, Donadoni will likely design his attack around Filippo Inzaghi.
Alberto Gilardino is out of form and was not called up and Francesco Totti has retired from international play.
The other forwards on the roster are Alessandro Del Piero, Antonio Di Natale, Cristiano Lucarelli and Fabio Quagliarella.
Italy also has problems in central defense with Materazzi out following thigh surgery and Alessandro Nesta also retired from the national team.
Panucci or Andrea Barzagli will likely be tapped to start alongside captain Fabio Cannavaro.
The 34-year-old Panucci was called up for the first time since Italy's final game of the 2004 European Championship. Previous coach Marcello Lippi never called on Panucci - reportedly due to a discrepancy dating back to when they were together at Inter Milan in 1999-2000.
Panucci usually plays at right back, but has filled in well in central defense for AS Roma during an injury emergency at the start of this Serie A season.
"He's done well for Roma. I don't think there would be a problem with the national team," Donadoni said, adding that Panucci also played in the center when he and Donadoni were teammates at AC Milan in the early 1990s.
Panucci is simply happy to be back.
"Returning to the national team at 34 fills me with pride," Panucci said. "It's a personal revenge. I don't have any ill will against anyone or regrets for what I did or said in the past. I come with the enthusiasm of a kid and the serenity of a 34-year-old."

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A Night To Forget For Italy Luca Manes looks back on the goalless draw at the San Siro, and all that went on around it...


The second Italy-France rematch after the World Cup final in Berlin was expected to be a very entertaining occasion, as both teams needed a win to book a place for Euro 2008.

In fact, it was a dull affair, dotted with very few shots towards the two goalkeepers’ nets. Those who had not a chance to watch it live were extremely lucky: far from living up to the hype, it was just a boring, boring match.

Being Italian, I also feel ashamed that, before the start of the match, the French national anthem was booed in such an emphatic way by a good deal of tifosi. Les Bleus coach Domenech and some of his players may have done their best to provoke the Azzurri and the Italian public, but that doesn’t justify such a lack of respect.
To be honest it’s not the first time that this has happened in Italy – the Estonian national anthem was booed as well a few years ago, for example.
On the plus side, though, one can only appreciate Cannavaro and Oddo’s neat words as they unequivocally slammed the San Siro public's bad attitude.
As for the match itself, I must admit I do agree with the vast majority of Italian pundits and I don’t think Donadoni was impeccable in the way he fielded his team. Most of all, his 4-3-2-1 formation was ineffectual, to say the least.
In theory, you could think Camoranesi on the right and Del Piero on the left would play a very offensive role to support Inzaghi in his quest for yet another decisive goal. But on the pitch it was quite clear the only one playing upfront was Super Pippo and that the two Juventus stars were forced to operate closer to the midfielders.
Unsurprisingly, as he is a midfielder, Camoranesi did it quite well, while Del Piero was the worst of the Azzurri lot. More realistically, it was a 4-5-1 formation - not a best option to try to win such a vital game.
It’s sad to stress it, but Del Piero really appeared to be a sort of ghost wandering around the pitch, a real shade of his former self. But it wasn’t 100% his fault. The manager should have employed him as a second striker beside Inzaghi, who seemed too lonely upfront to be a constant threat for an experienced French defence – even though the Milan hero created the only great chance of the match hitting the bar.
Unfortunately Donadoni persisted in his mistake, as he replaced Del Piero only a few minutes from time. Indeed, the other two replacements seemed quite ill advised as well. After Anelka made France's only chance of the second half, the former Livorno manager seemed to lose his nerve, thinking that Perrotta could be more useful than Camoranesi to counter Abidal and Malouda.
That was a bad call, I’m afraid. Perrotta is too used to be playing behind Totti, the only striker in AS Roma formation, to feel comfortable on the right of midfield: no wonder he had a poor game! Then Lucarelli went on to replace Inzaghi, a further example of Donadoni 's softly-softly approach. Clearly, he didn’t want to risk too much trying to play with two real strikers up front.
For a final remark on the Azzurri coach, it seems to me that he gave De Rossi too much of a defensive role, forcing him to cover the back four rather than supporting Gattuso and Pirlo to feed good balls upfront.
On that subject, the Milan playmaker was outstanding, probably the MVP of the game. Gattuso battled against two tough enemies in Makalele and Vieira. He got a yellow card and will be suspended for the next game, the difficult trip to Ukraine.
Apart from Pirlo performance, the sole good news for the Azzurri supporters came from the “back pack”. Cannavaro looked like the World Cup maestro that he is, not like the player in great decline spotted in the friendly game against Hungary some three weeks ago.
Barzagli made very few mistakes, while Oddo and Zambrotta had more than average games. Buffon, for his part, saved the only chance built by a second rate French striking force (by the way, I know Anelka is having a good spell in the Premiership, but leaving Trezeguet on the bench seemed a real sacrilege to me).
In the end, Donadoni didn’t regret the 0-0 draw, blaming the lack of speed and determination on the unsatisfactory physical condition – that’s why he wanted the Serie A to start in the middle of August, as opposed to the two weeks ago decided by the Italian League.
But it's behind him now. In Ukraine he’ll need to get the three points, otherwise it’s going to be very tough to qualify. Can the Azzurri make it without Materazzi, Toni and Gattuso (and... Lippi as boss)?

[M|ch]

Euro 2008 - Lampard, Hargreaves both ruled out

Eurosport - Tue, 11 Sep 12:47:00 2007

Midfielders Frank Lampard and Owen Hargreaves have both been ruled out of England's vital Euro 2008 qualifier against Russia through injury.

Lampard was facing an uphill to be fit for the must-win Group E match at Wembley, after tearing a thigh muscle in training two weeks ago. He has now left the squad's Hertfordshire base to return to Chelsea.
Manchester United midfielder Hargreaves also suffered a thigh injury in training last Wednesday which left him unavailable for Saturday's 3-0 victory over Israel.
After undergoing a scan and fitness test, the England medical team have decided not to risk him for the game, which is sure to please his club boss Sir Alex Ferguson.
Hargreaves has been in and out of the United team since his £17 million summer move from Bayern Munich.
Aston Villa's Gareth Barry is now likely to again start alongside Liverpool's Steven Gerrard in the England midfield, after impressing in his first international start for seven years on Saturday.
Gerrard is reported fit for the match, despite initial fitness fears over his broken toe and being substituted with cramp during the weekend's win.