Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Pim Praises Plucky Chippers


PIM Verbeek paid tribute to his Socceroos, particularly defender Scott Chipperfield, after last night's 0-0 draw in Yokohama but conceded his side didn't deserve three points.

speaking after the game to a press conference with over 100 members of the media, Verbeek was moderately pleased with the result.

"I'm pleased with the 0-0 result. I pay compliments to my players with more or less no preparations too.

"But in the circumstances this was the maximum result for us."

Verbeek conceded that makeshift striker Timmy Cahill, who's had a very tough schedule of late in England, had a hard shift against the two central defenders for the Blue Samurai.

"It was a difficult night for Timmy.

"I was impressed with Scott Chipperfield. If you see he had not one training session in the last few weeks and played here for 90 minutes.

"He struggled a little in his first 10 minutes with his rhythm but after that he played a great game. So physically and mentally a great performance.

"And that goes for the whole team who worked very hard in a difficult game. I'm not pleased that we didn't win the game.

"We didn't deserve to win the game to be honest. Every coach wants to win games so that's the only thing I can say but again, I think 0-0 was maximum."

HINES INKS NEW BORO CONTRACT, Know your football? Play Premier 10 now and you could win big money by predicting the results of this weekend's fixtures

Middlesbrough starlet Seb Hines has pledged his future to the club by penning a new contract that will keep him at the Riverside Stadium until the end of the 2010-11 campaign.

The 20-year-old recently returned to Teesside after enjoying a spell on loan with Derby County.

Seb Hines Middlesbrough 2007/08 profile size
SEB HINES

He failed to make a first-team appearance during his time at Pride Park, but has featured in six matches for Gareth Southgate's side.

Hines' only Boro goal came in the FA Cup third round win against Hull City in January 2007.

Meanwhile, David Wheater remains upbeat about Boro's chances of avoiding relegation this term even though the club are currently entrenched in the bottom three.

He told the Evening Gazette: "I obviously don't want to go down. It's not good for any footballer and especially when it's with your hometown team as well.

"None of us want to go down and I'm confident that we won't. I think we've got miles more quality than the teams around us all over the park.

"We just need to start sticking our chances away and I think we'll be fine. The table is so tight that with a couple of wins you can be up to tenth quickly."

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West Brom defender Jonas Olsson is confident he will be able to return to action later this month when the Baggies face Everton.

The 25-year-old, who moved to The Hawthorns in an £800,000 transfer from NEC Nijmegen last summer, has been sidelined with a knee injury since last month's defeat at Aston Villa.

Jonas Olsson West Bromwich Albion 2008/09 profile size
JONAS OLSSON

He told Albion's official website: "Last week I made some progress and I'm feeling a lot better. Hopefully it will just be a few weeks more before I'm back.

"It may not be for the Fulham game but hopefully for the game after that against Everton.

"They thought the injury was tendonitis at the beginning but it's more inflammation inside the knee due to too much training and no recovery time.

"I'm not alone in the treatment room. There are a lot of guys there and it's nice to be around them. You become one group and you help each other out."

SPAIN CRUISE TO FRIENDLY WIN

Spain lived up to their billing as the best side in World football, waltzing past England to extend their unbeaten run to 29 games.

England had looked the better side in the opening 15 minutes, with Emile Heskey in particular imposing himself on a Spanish defense that was without its preferred central pairing.

David Beckham vs Spain Feb 2009 feature
DAVID BECKHAM

With outfield leader Carles Puyol injured and fellow centre-back Carlos Marchena rested, Gerard Pique was given his first cap and Raul Albiol was picked alongside him.

The inexperienced pair were successfully targeted by England early on, with Gabriel Agbonlahor the recipient of the best chance - a first time shot from a Gareth Barry cross that whistled just wide with Iker Casillas beaten.

Yet Heskey came arguably closer to scoring after 14 minutes when he ran in behind Pique who hauled him back on the edge of the box.

A red card and a free-kick or penalty would have been the expected outcome but the referee's assistant came to Pique's rescue, wrongly flagging for offside.

Unfortunately for England that warning was what Spain needed to open up. Two minutes later Fernando Torres and David Villa both had good chances blocked before Villa shot straight at David James from inside the box.

Their dominance continued, with Villa scoring after 26 minutes only to see it ruled out for offside, before finally they were rewarded with a goal.

36 minutes had gone when Villa had a ball played into his feet on the edge of the box and, with Jagielka and Terry on his hip, turned them both in an instant before slotting past James.

A back-post Heskey header less than a minute later gave hope that England would respond well to going behind but it was the last good chance the away side would get until the 88th minute.

David Beckham's appearance for the second half, allowing him to tie Bobby Moore for the most England caps as an outfield player, sparked some interest but it was Spain's match.

The reigning European Champions cruised through the second half without either threatening or being threatened, although they were able to snatch a second goal to put the game away.

Xavi, at the heart of everything for Spain, hit a hopeful free-kick into the England box and Llorente found enough space behind Matthew Upson to power a header past Robert Green.

Only a late chance for Carlton Cole offered hope, when he was played in behind the Spanish defence by Beckham, took the ball round Pepe Reina and found the target from a tight angle but Carlos Marchena was there to block the shot on the goal line.

Manager Fabio Capello can take relief in the fact that they were beaten by the best, but he will have hoped for more from an England side that have looked more clinical since the Italian took over last winter.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

PIENAAR SET FOR SHORT ABSENCE

Everton have revealed that South Africa international Steven Pienaar is likely to be sidelined for two weeks with a hamstring injury. 

The South Africa international has been forced to withdraw from his country's friendly international against Chile on Wednesday. 

Pienaar was already ineligible for Sunday's FA Cup fifth round clash with Aston Villa after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season in last week's replay victory against Liverpool. 

However, he is now also likely to miss the trip to Newcastle United later this month. 

Meanwhile, physio Mick Rathbone remains hopeful that Marouane Fellaini will be available for the Villa game even though the Belgium international is currently struggling with a back problem. 

He has also revealed that long-term absentee Louis Saha is stepping up his recovery from a hamstring problem. 

"Saha is doing well and is close to returning to full training and is looking to join this week," said Rathbone. 

"Fellaini has a bruised back but we are pushing him to be fit for the weekend. We anticipate that Pienaar will be out for a couple of weeks. 

"The lads seemed to come through Saturday's game (against Bolton) OK, and now several of them have gone on to join their international teams."