No date mentioned, some really strange choices though, he’s relying too much on club form, IMO. While he’s dropped Aquilani and Pazzini, he has included Ranocchia and Giaccherini who have had minimal impact at club level this season. We’re also left without a true number 9, Balotelli is the most obvious person for that role but he tends to drift and I don’t think his penalty box movement is as good as Pazzini, Matri or Osvaldo. Aquilani and Pazzini were solid performers in qualifying as well.
Would it be a bit unusual to see a Wop squad which contains many players from the likes of Siena, Bologna, Pescara, Atalanta and a couple of Russian outposts?
Less of the racial terms Thraw, yes and no. There is more than usual but this looks like a very experimental list and once it’s whittled down to the final 23 I’d expect it to be much more concentrated.
Gary Neville will be part of Woys coaching staff for England.
Czech squad.
Name Club Goalkeepers: Petr Cech Chelsea
Jaroslav Drobny Hamburg
Jan Lastuvka Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
Tomas Grigar FC Vitkovice
Defenders:
Theodor Gebre Selassie Slovan Liberec
Roman Hubnik Hertha Berlin
Michal Kadlec Bayer Leverkusen
David Limbersky Viktoria Plzen
Daniel Pudil Cesena
Frantisek Rajtoral Viktoria Plzen
Tomas Sivok Besiktas
Marek Suchy Spartak Moscow
Midfielders:
Tomas Hübschman Shakhtar Donetsk
Petr Jiracek Wolfsburg
Daniel Kolar Viktoria Plzen
Milan Petrzela Viktoria Plzen
Vaclav Pilar Viktoria Plzen
Jaroslav Plasil Bordeaux
Jan Rezek Anorthosis Famagusta
Tomas Rosicky Arsenal
Forwards:
Milan Baros Galatasaray
David Lafata Baumit Jablonec
Tomas Necid CSKA Moscow
Tomas Pekhart Nuremberg
Sweden
Goalkeepers: Andreas Isaksson PSV Johan Wiland FC Copenhagen Par Hansson Helsingborg
Defenders: Mikael Lustig Celtic Olof Mellberg Olympiakos Andreas Granqvist Genoa Martin Olsson Blackburn Jonas Olsson West Bromwich Mikael Antonsson Bologna Behrang Safari Anderlecht
Midfielders: Rasmus Elm AZ Sebastian Larsson Sunderland Anders Svensson Elfsborg Kim Kallstrom Olympique Lyonnais Pontus Wernbloom CSKA Moscow Samuel Holmen Istanbul BB Emir Bajrami Twente Christian Wilhelmsson Al-Hilal
Attackers: Zlatan Ibrahimovic AC Milan Johan Elmander Galatasaray Tobias Hysen IFK Goteborg Ola Toivonen PSV Markus Rosenberg Werder Bremen [font=Arial]
[/font]
Portugal
Goalkeepers: Rui Patricio Sporting Lisbon Eduardo Benfica Beto Cluj
Defenders: Joao Pereira Sporting Lisbon Fabio Coentrao Real Madrid Bruno Alves Zenit St Petersburg Rolando Porto Ricardo Costa Valencia Pepe Real Madrid Miguel Lopes Sporting Braga
Midfielders: Raul Meireles Chelsea Miguel Veloso Genoa Joao Moutinho Porto Ruben Micael Zaragoza Carlos Martins Granada Custodio Sporting Braga
Attackers Nani Manchester United Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid Hugo Almeida Besiktas Ricardo Quaresma Besiktas Silvestre Varela Porto Helder Postiga Zaragoza Nelson Oliveira Benfica
That is an awful looking Swedish squad. Can’t see them doing anything. On the contrary though, the Portugese squad looks really strong. Could they spring a surprise at all? I know they only struggled to qualify though. Is Carvalho retired from international football?
Carvalho walked out on them before a qualifier last year and I think he’s been effectively retired by the coaches. Has Nani played many games for United this year?
The UEFA website is a fairly handy resource, no opinions of course, but all the stats are there.
4/6 to go out in the group stages. hmmm was hoping to see evens. must see what they are to finish bottom of the group
france have by far the strongest group of players in group d. 9/5 to win the group is a decent price but with france it could be another shambles
denmark a decent value bet at 6/1 to qualify from their group
top scorer, I’ll prob throw a few quid on benzema (20/1), Robben (50/1) and Kershakov (100/1). Will Llorente start do the Spanish experts reckon? 20/1 for him
Why didn’t the young lad John Guidetti make the Sweden squad.
Carvalho isn’t a huge loss to Portugal as it is the one position where they have serious depth
Portugal look a bit light in midfield to me.
There are a number of new faces in Vicente del Bosque’s Spain squad named today to play in the up coming friendly matches against Serbia and South Korea.
Atletico Madrid‘s Juanfran, Álvaro Domínguez and Adrián López are all included in the 21-man set-up that will play in Switzerland, as is Beñat from Betis, Málaga‘s Isco, David De Gea of Manchester United and Benfica’s Javi García. There is also a place for Villarreal‘s Bruno Soriano who suffered the heartbreak of relegation with his club on Sunday.
Spain take on Serbia at the AFG Arena in St Gallen on 26 May and follow that with a game against South Korea at the Stade de Suisse in Bern as they begin preperations to defend their European Championship crown in June.
The players are part of the initial group of players that will head to the Swiss trainign camp at Schruns on 22 May before being joined by players from Barcelona, Athletic Club and Chelsea who are still to compete in the Copa del Rey and Champions League finals respectively.
Del Bosque will name his final squad to take to Poland and the Ukraine on 27 May.
The full 21-man squad is as follows:
GOALKEEPERS: Casillas, Reina, De Gea.
DEFENDERS: Arbeloa, Sergio Ramos, Juanfran, Albiol, Jordi Alba, Monreal, Domínguez.
MIDFIELDERS: Xabi Alonso, Cazorla, Silva, Navas, Bruno, Isco, Beñat, Javi García.
FORWARDS: Negredo, Soldado, Adrián.
Doesn’t Pepe play in midfield for them? They won’t be light with him there.
[quote name='Mr. Totti' timestamp='1336583423' post='623455']
Blanc is announcing two squads for France, one containing foreign based players and another containing domestic based players, he will then announce a full squad at a later date. Here is the foreign based squad he's selected.
 
 
 
Defenders:
Gael Clichy
Patrice Evra
Younes Kaboul
Laurent Koscielny
Philippe Mexes
Adil Rami
 
Midfielders:
Yohan Cabaye
Florent Malouda
Samir Nasri
Hatem Ben Arfa
Franck Ribery
 
Attackers:
Karim Benzema
[/quote]
France have announced the second part of their squad. I would go with Malouda, Gourcuff and Ben Arfa to be cut. Kaboul has been ruled out of Euro 2012.
Goalkeepers:
Hugo Lloris
Lyon
Steve Mandanda
Marseille
Cedric Carrasso
Bordeaux
Defenders:
Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa Montpellier
Mathieu Debuchy
Lille
Anthony Reveillere
Lyon
Midfielders:
Alou Diarra
Marseille
Yann M’Vila
Rennes
Marvin Martin
Sochaux
Yoann Gourcuff Lyon
Blaise Matuidi PSG
Attackers:
Olivier Giroud Montpellier
Jeremy Menez PSG
Mathieu Valbuena Marseille
Loic Remy Marseille
I suspect France will line-up with something like this:
[Soccer][gk]Loris[/gk]
[rb]Revillere/Debuchy[/rb] [rcb]Mexes[/rcb] [lcb]Rami[/lcb] [lb]Evra[/lb]
[lcm] Diarra[/lcm] [rcm] M’Vila[/rcm]
[rw]Remy/Menez[/rw] [cam]Nasri[/cam] [lw]Ribery[/lw]
[st]Benzema[/st][/Soccer]
Not sure who will the nod on the right hand side. Malouda and Gourcuff are bizarre selections from Blanc. Otherwise, it’s a very strong looking side, IMO.
In Rocko’s haste to post the Spain ‘squad’ on TFK before anyone else, he merely copied and pasted the article and looked straight down to the list of names without reading the preamble. He turned to me and remarked how unexpectedly weak the squad was and that Ireland have a great chance to beat them. I had to break the news to him that the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Pique, Mata and Llorente weren’t included in this squad, which was just for pre-tournament friendlies. What a fool.
Best of luck to Roy Hodgson and Gary Neville ahead of Roy announcing the England squad tomorrow.
Denmark and England would be the only sides not announce any squad yet?
I don’t think that French team is anything to write home about.