European Football

[Parm]

not much of a welcome for Beckham

[dww]

Eredivisie
Teams P GD Pts
1 AZ Alkmaar 16 25 38
2 Ajax 16 21 35
3 Twente 16 17 33
4 PSV Eindhoven 16 13 29
5 NAC Breda 16 3 29
6 Groningen 16 13 26
7 NEC Nijmegen 16 8 26
8 Heerenveen 16 -2 26
9 Utrecht 16 0 22
10 Willem II Tilb 16 -3 21
11 Heracles 16 -9 19
12 S Rotterdam 16 -10 18
13 Feyenoord 16 2 16
14 Den Haag 16 -4 15
15 Roda JC Kerk 16 -11 14
16 Vitesse Arnhem 16 -17 12
17 De Graafschap 16 -22 12
18 Volendam 16 -24 11

McClaren doing well at Twente as are Alkmaar - do either have any players we should be looking at?

[Joe King]

AZ have a midfielder called Demy de Zeeuw who is very crafty and technically gifted with the ball and Brazilian striker Ari who has a reasonable goal tally.

Twente have a young winger called Eljero Elia. Its been said he might come to England. I have read that Hull City are interested in him.

[Joe King]

La Liga News: Gonzalo Higuain is out for ten days with tonsillitis.

Serie A column:

Amauri faces Azzurri backlash
Wednesday 31 December, 2008 [Channel 4 Football Italia]

Amauri is still undecided whether to play for Italy or Brazil, but Pippo Inzaghi and Gian Piero Gasperini claim he doesn’t deserve to wear the Azzurri jersey.

The Juventus striker will be available for selection by Marcello Lippi when his passport comes through in 2009 with some suggesting he’ll make his debut against homeland Brazil in February’s friendly.

Selecao boss Carlos Dunga hasn’t closed the door on Amauri yet either, so the forward is waiting to see who’ll call him first.

“He is undecided? I don’t think that is the right way to go about this,” snapped 2006 World Cup winner Inzaghi.

“The Azzurri shirt cannot be considered a consolation prize. He needs to make a decision and have the courage to announce it.”

Amauri would be the second ‘Oriundo’ to make the change after Mauro German Camoranesi relinquished Argentina to win the World Cup with the Nazionale.

Genoa Coach Gasperini is also unimpressed with Amauri’s chances of playing for Italy, even though one of his own players – Thiago Motta – is facing a possible call-up too.

“I am not convinced by these citizenship processes, but Motta is certainly more Italian than Amauri and Camoranesi,” said the tactician.

“On the field he has already proved that he has what it takes to play international football.”

Brazilian midfielder Thiago Motta has an Italian passport, as his father’s family hails from Polesella, a village near Rovigo in the Veneto region.

[Parm]

How has Amauri done at Juve this season

[Joe King]

How has Amauri done at Juve this season

Reasonably well. It has helped playing with a decent Juve side and Del Piero, who has been in anything less than amazing in Serie A. He might find it hard soon as Trezeguet returns back from injury.

[Reece]

Just switched over from our game and Barce are losing at home to relegation threatened Mallorca.

0-1, 23 mins played.

[Reece]

2-1 Barca

[Joe King]

Who scored the goals? I've just popped in now.

[Reece]

Henry, Iniesta and Toure

Josemi got sent off.

[Joe King]

Iniesta is back Very nice.

[Reece]

Iniesta is back Very nice.

Yeah came on as a sub and made it 2-1. Such a good player.

[Reece]

It finished 3-1 BTW

[wiw]

Reasonably well. It has helped playing with a decent Juve side and Del Piero, who has been in anything less than amazing in Serie A. He might find it hard soon as Trezeguet returns back from injury.

I thought he'd scored quite a few goals? Has he dropped off recently?

Yeah came on as a sub and made it 2-1. Such a good player.

Where did he play, on the left or in the middle? Great to see him back

[Reece]

I thought he'd scored quite a few goals? Has he dropped off recently?



Where did he play, on the left or in the middle? Great to see him back

Left. Ish.

And in the middle