WHUFC.com
Lars Jacobsen and Victor Obinna were both in action on a busy Tuesday across
the globe
29.03.2011
Scott Parker and Robert Green were able to enjoy England's enthralling 1-1
friendly draw with Ghana at Wembley from the safety of the substitutes'
bench on Tuesday evening.
Elsewhere, however, there were plenty of West Ham United players in action
for their respective countries on a busy evening of international football
all over the world. Right-back Lars Jacobsen played for an hour for Denmark
in their 2-1 friendly victory in Slovakia. The Danes triumphed in Trnava
thanks to an own-goal from Kornel Salata after three minutes and a
second-half strike from Michael Krohn-Dehli.
Further afield, Victor Obinna started Nigeria's 3-0 friendly win over Kenya
in Abuja, testing goalkeeper Arnold Otieno with a well-struck 25-yard
free-kick midway through the first half. Ahmed Musa, Ikechukwu Uche and
Victor Anichebe were on target for the Super Eagles.
Marek Stech played the full 90 minutes for the Czech Republic Under-21s as
they went down 1-0 to France in Olomouc. The Czech are taking part in this
summer's UEFA U21 EURO but saw an 16-match unbeaten run ended, despite
Stech's best efforts. The keeper did make a tremendous late save to keep the
scoreline respectable.
Further down at age-group level, Eoin Wearen lined-up for Republic of
Ireland U19s in his country's second match of a short tour of Cyprus. The
central midfielder started Sunday's goal-less draw with the Cyprus U19 side
before appearing in Tuesday's friendly meeting with Cypriot First Division
side Enosis Paralimni on Tuesday evening. Ironically, Paralimni wear claret
and blue colours after being donated a West Ham strip by Hammers legend
Bobby Moore in the late 1960s.
Further afield, no fewer than three West Ham players will be in action for
their respective national sides overnight. Pablo Barrera's Mexico will be
looking to build on their confidence-boosting weekend win over Paraguay when
they take on Venezuela in a friendly in the American city of San Diego,
California.
Elsewhere in the United States, Jonathan Spector and his American team-mates
will host the Paraguayans in Nashville, Tennessee.
Finally, youth-team midfielder Sebastian Lletget is part of the United
States U20 squad that begins its challenge for the CONCACAF U20 Championship
in Guatemala.
The Americans start the tournament with a Group B meeting with Suriname in
Guatemala City this evening before taking on Panama on Saturday 2 April.
The four nations that reach the semi-finals of the 12-team competition will
qualify for this summer's FIFA U20 World Cup in Colombia.
Later this week, the club's youngsters take centre-stage, with both
first-year scholar Blair Turgott and schoolboy Leo Chambers facing
make-or-break matches with England. Turgott has scored in each of the U17s'
opening two UEFA European Championship Elite Round qualifiers against Spain.
The midfielder netted in England's victories over Northern Ireland and
mini-group hosts Belgium, setting up a winner-takes-all meeting with the
Spanish on Thursday. With Spain possessing a better goal difference after
two matches, Turgott and his team-mates know only a win will take the
defending champions through to the finals in Serbia in May. Chambers,
meanwhile, has been named in the U16 squad for their final Sky Sports
Victory Shield fixture against Scotland in Morecambe. England know only a
win will bring them a tenth consecutive title.
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Will Scott Parker be Fit for Saturday?
March 30th, 2011 - 3:41 am by S J Chandos
West Ham Till I Die
Thankfully, the Hammers players, selected for their respective nations seem
to have come through the international break largely unscathed. The only
question mark is over the severity of the calve strain suffered by Scott
Parker in last Saturday's Euro-Championship qualifier against Wales. It
remains to be seen whether the injury will prevent Parker appearing in this
weekend's fixture against Man Utd? Hopefully, resting Parker from the Ghana
match, last night, was just a precaution and he will be fit and as
influential as usual, in our midfield, come 12.30pm on Saturday!
A victory against Man Utd would certainly prove to be a major staging post
in a successful campaign against relegation. It is one of those weekends
where the relegation strugglers are either playing each other or one of the
top half teams. For instance, on Saturday, Brum have a tough match against
the greatly improved Bolton Wanderers; Villa face a tough match at Goodison;
Wolves are at St James Park; WBA play host to Liverpool; Wigan face Spurs;
Blackburn are away at Arsenal; and Stoke City face Chelski. While on
Sunday, Fulham take on Blackpool at Craven Cottage. If enough of those
matches go our way, and we can grab a win over Man Utd, then it will further
consolidate our position outside of the bottom three.
This relegation battle is the closest that I can ever recall in the PL. If
we had beaten Spurs last week, we would have actually catapulted up to 13th
place, thus achieving virtual mid-table respectability! As it is, I retain
my season long conviction that we will escape relegation. It is still going
to be potentially tough, with challenging away fixtures at Bolton, Man City
and Chelski. But we have the form and the momentum to grind out the
results, in those type of matches, and eventually climb to safety. We also
have the assurance of very winnable games against Villa, Blackburn, Wigan
and Sunderland. Though heavens knows what the magic safety margin of points
will prove to be this season? Will it be 38, 40 or 42, who can say? All
we can do is ensure that we win our home matches, amass as many away points
as possible, and hope that we do enough to endure.
No doubt a full strength Man Utd line up will be fired up to avenge their
4-0 Carling Cup humiliation at our hands. They may have lost Tevez and
Ronaldo, but they still have top quality players, such as Berbatov, Rooney
and Nani. While Vidic is an absolute rock in their defence and the
veterans, Giggs and Scoles, can still prove influential on their day. But
if we build up an head of steam, and play to our full potential, we will
have every chance of success against them. COYI.
SJ. Chandos.
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Jack the glad eyes stiff test
Published: Today
The Sun
JACK COLLISON will finally return from a long-term knee injury when West Ham
reserves play Manchester United on Friday. The Welsh midfielder, 22, has
been out for a year after surgery. But Collison is still hoping to play a
crucial role in West Ham's battle to avoid relegation.
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Basel slap £6m price tag on Aston Villa and West Ham target
By talkSPORT
Tuesday, March 29
Aston Villa and West Ham have been told they will have to pay £6million if
they want to land Basel's flying winger Valentin Stocker. The two Premier
League sides are among a host of clubs across the continent keeping a close
eye on the 21-year-old, who has scored six goals for the runaway leaders of
the Swiss Premier League.
But, aware of the interest in their star player, Basel have almost doubled
their summer asking price, according to reports in Switzerland. It is
understood that Bayern Munich and Udinese are also hoping to secure Stocker
at the end of the season, but Aston Villa have lined him up as a possible
replacement for Ashley Young, whose future looks uncertain. West Ham's
interest is thought to depend on their Premier League status at the end of
the season.
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Collison on course to make long-awaited West Ham return this week
By talkSPORT
Tuesday, March 29
Jack Collison is finally set to make his long-awaited comeback from a
long-term knee injury when West Ham reserves play Manchester United on
Friday. Collison has been ruled out for the last year with a serious knee
problem which required surgery. The Wales international resumed training at
the start of the year, but the club have refused to rush him back into
action and are not prepared to take any risks over his comeback. Collison is
still hoping to play a major role for the east London club as they look to
force their way out of the bottom three. The talented midfielder is set to
play his first game when the reserves play at Bishops Stortford on Friday
afternoon.
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