The Terry brothers in the squad eh? Interesting.
Paul Scholes is understood to have declined a surprise last-ditch attempt by Fabio Capello to lure him out of international retirement to play a part in England’s World Cup squad.
Capello contacted Scholes, who has not played for his country since Euro 2004 but has 66 caps, to see whether he might follow Jamie Carragher’s lead by emerging from his self-imposed international exile as the Italian finalises his provisional 30-man squad, announced formally at Wembley this afternoon.
Capello was minded to seek further experience to supplement his midfield ranks and that prompted contact with the 35-year-old Manchester United midfielder, although Scholes is not inclined to reverse his original decision.
Capello and the England general manager, Franco Baldini, initially made contact with Scholes and Carragher upon taking up the reins with the national team 17 months ago to seek clarification on the reasons for both players’ retirement from international football.
They were satisfied at the time that neither was likely to change his mind and did not intend to revisit the issue thereafter, though Carragher’s stance has shifted slightly after a desperately disappointing season for Liverpool.
The England management team were made aware of that much and, having successfully reintegrated Carragher into their plans, sought clarification from Scholes on his intentions. Yet the United veteran does not appear to have shared the Liverpool defender’s desire to emerge from exile.
:lol:
I’m shocked Capello has picked Carragher.
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He has shown no desire to represent his country for 3 years and could cause resentment in the squad if he starts.
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He is useless - (good at hoofing though)
Eagerly awaiting the announcement of the 70 plus players Diego has cut to bring his squad down to 30. Eagerly awaiting it, so I am.
In fairness Carragher isn’t useless but he does have his limitations. These limitations were often covered up by throwing himself into tackles and in front of balls that other players wouldn’t do. I can’t see him performing the same way for his country
An attacking trio of Messi, Tevez and Higuain is mouthwatering. I’m wondering how Maradona can fook it up though.
That’s even without Milito and Aguero.
Palermo will probably start though.
Milito doesn’t excite me and I’ve my doubts about Aguero. Doubts echoed by Bandage.
Palermo should only be brought on as placekicker imo.
He’ll probably start Schiavi. This is a 37 year old central defender who had never been capped before last September. Newscastle’s Jonas Gutierrez is expected to start on the right.
Players you can expect not to be in:
Riquelme (definite)
Cambiasso
Zanetti
Lucho Gonzalez - Marseille’s key man in their French title win
Didn’t realise Cambiasso and Zanetti were out in the cold. Love Zanetti.
I see the vastly overrated Ashley Young didn’t make the English 30-man provisional squad. I trust KIB man will tone down his gushing praise given Young’s poor displays throughout the last 18 months.
Diego has an absolute embarrassment of riches but seems resolved to completely fucking it up. Shouldnt really have qualified and only did after a lucky enough win over Uruguay in montevideo after they went down to 10 men.
Argentinians seem to resent him as their national coach but still idolise him as the player he was.
Even Ariel Ortega got a call up for the last international, albeit a “local” national side.
:rolleyes:
No Ronaldinho for Brazil. Poor decision IMO.
World Cup 2010: Brazil Squad - No Ronaldinho, Adriano Or Ronaldo In Selecao’s 23-Man Squad
The coach unveiled his 23-man squad at a hotel in Rio de Janeiro…
By Anthony Wright
May 11, 2010 5:31:00 PM
Brazil coach Carlos Dunga has announced his 23-man squad for the World Cup finals in South Africa this summer.
As was widely anticipated in the weeks building up to the announcement, there is no place for AC Milan star Ronaldinho. Dunga has also omitted Flamengo striker Adriano and Corinthians pair Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos, all of whom had faint hopes of making the squad. Two of Brazil’s rising stars in Alexandre Pato and Neymar are also staying at home.
The core of the team from the qualifying campaign remains though, while there are also call-ups for Tottenham Hotspur 'keeper Heurelho Gomes, Cruzeiro veteran Gilberto and, perhaps most surprisingly, Wolfsburg striker Grafite.
Goalkeepers
Julio Cesar
Inter (ITA)
Heurelho Gomes
Tottenham (ENG)
Alexander Doni
Roma (ITA)
Defenders
Maicon Inter (ITA)
Daniel Alves
Barcelona (ESP)
Gilberto Cruzeiro
Michel Bastos
Olympique Lyonnais (FRA)
Lucio Inter (ITA)
Juan Roma (ITA)
Luisao Benfica (POR)
Thiago Silva
AC Milan (ITA)
Midfielders
Gilberto Silva
Panathinaikos (GRE)
Felipe Melo
Juventus (ITA)
Kaka Real Madrid (ESP)
Julio Baptista
Roma (ITA)
Josue Wolfsburg (GER)
Kleberson Flamengo
Elano Galatasaray (TUR)
Ramires Benfica (POR)
Forwards
Robinho Santos
Luis Fabiano
Sevilla (ESP)
Nilmar Villarreal (ESP)
Grafite Wolfsburg (GER)
Francesco Totti, Luca Toni left off Italy’s provisional World Cup squad
By The Associated Press (CP) – 1 hour ago
ROME — Francesco Totti and Luca Toni have been left out of Italy’s 30-man World Cup squad.
Totti retired from the national team after helping Italy win the 2006 World Cup, but there had been speculation that he could return.
Toni was Italy’s main striker in 2006 and at the 2008 European Championship, but lost his place when he ran into problems at Bayern Munich to start this season.
Toni transferred to Roma in January and has helped the club keep pressure on leader Inter Milan heading into the final round of Serie A this weekend.
But coach Marcello Lippi left both players off the preliminary squad announced Tuesday.
The seven forwards chosen were Marco Borriello, Antonio Di Natale, Alberto Gilardino, Vincenzo Iaquinta, Giampaolo Pazzini, Fabio Quagliarella and Giuseppe Rossi.
In defence, Juventus centre back Nicola Legrottaglie was not included despite taking part in a two-day Azzurri training camp last week.
Otherwise, there were no big surprises in the list, which will be cut down to 23 by June 1.
Italy will train at altitude in Sestriere starting May 23, and has friendlies against Mexico on June 3 in Brussels and Switzerland two days later in Geneva.
In South Africa, the World Cup holders open against Paraguay on June 14 and also face New Zealand and Slovakia in Group F.
Italy squad:
Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli), Federico Marchetti (Cagliari), Salvatore Sirigu (Palermo).
Defenders: Salvatore Bocchetti (Genoa), Leonardo Bonucci (Bari), Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus), Mattia Cassani (Palermo), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Domenico Criscito (Genoa), Fabio Grosso (Juventus), Christian Maggio (Napoli), Gianluca Zambrotta (AC Milan).
Midfielders: Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), Antonio Candreva (Juventus), Andrea Cossu (Cagliari), Daniele De Rossi (AS Roma), Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria), Simone Pepe (Udinese), Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan).
Forwards: Marco Borriello (AC Milan), Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Giampaolo Pazzini (Sampdoria), Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli), Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal).
Players not going:
Brazil: Ronaldinho, Pato, Adriano, Neymar, Maxwell, Thiago Motta, Diego, Alex, Lucas 
Italy: Totti, Toni, Cassano, Balotelli, Aquilani, Miccoli, Nesta
Holland: Van Nistelrooy
That’s not a great Brazil squad. Quite a few limited players there. Italian squad also very limited IMO.
France 30 man squad: No Nasri, Benzema, Vieira.
ARDIENS :
Hugo Lloris (Lyon), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Cédric Carrasso (Bordeaux), Mickaël Landreau (Lille).
DEFENSEURS :
Bacary Sagna (Arsenal/ANG), Eric Abidal (Barcelone/ESP), William Gallas (Arsenal/ANG), Patrice Evra (Manchester United/ANG), Rod Fanni (Rennes), Adil Rami (Lille), Sébastien Squillaci (Séville/ESP), Gaël Clichy (Arsenal/ANG), Marc Planus (Bordeaux), Anthony Reveillère (Lyon).
MILIEUX DE TERRAIN :
Jérémy Toulalan (Lyon), Lassana Diarra (Real Madrid/ESP), Alou Diarra (Bordeaux), Yoann Gourcuff (Bordeaux), Abou Diaby (Arsenal/ANG), Yann M’Vila (Rennes), Florent Malouda (Chelsea/ANG).
ATTAQUANTS :
Sidney Govou (Lyon), Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich/ALL), Thierry Henry (Barcelone/ESP), Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea/ANG), Djibril Cissé (Panathinaïkos/GRE), André-Pierre Gignac (Toulouse), Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille), Hatem Ben Arfa (Marseille), Jimmy Briand (Rennes)
Its hardly surprising that Totti has been left out of Italy’s World Cup squad. He was very poor in the 2006 World Cup failing to score from play in Italy’s 7 matches.
:lol:
He’s not as exciting but he’s a very good striker and would probably be in the starting eleven of any other country except Spain maybe.
Aguero won’t see much game time probably but he’s a decent player. Whether he becomes Messi or Saviola is debatable still but there aren’t many countries that have so much depth up front.
Zanetti and Cambiasso would add an awful lot to the Argentinian squad. I think Cambiasso is far superior to Mascherano.