BWFC 24

International Wanderers Weekend Roundup

A brief summary of each Bolton Wanderers player who has been on international duty this weekend.

England U21 6 – 3 Macedonia U21

Fabrice Muamba came on for Peterborough United’s Danny Rose with 20 minutes to go. Unfortunately Muamba’s most notable contribution seems to be that he may have injured Micah Richards when he collided with the Manchester City defender.

Finalnd 2 – 1 Wales

Jussi Jaaskelainen failed to keep a clean sheet against Wales. Although Finland took an early lead Man City’s Craig Bellamy equalised in the 17th minute. Bellamy had two more good chances to test Jussi in the first half but both attempts sailed harmlessly over the crossbar. Finland retook the lead with quarter of an hour to go and Jaaskelainen had to produce a good save to prevent an 90th minute equaliser.

Finland’s win would be in vain as they cannot qualify for The 2010 World Cup. Finland face Germany next, who qualified for the World Cup in South Africa following their win against Russia. Finland are destined to come third in the group but perhaps a win at Hamburg will earn them some pride.

Welsh international Sam Ricketts missed this fixture as he has a ankle injury it is unlikely that he will play for Wales in their last qualifier match against Liechtenstein. Like Finland, Wales have failed to qualify for next year’s World Cup in South Africa.
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Cahill not the Only One on International Duty

While Gary Cahill joins England for their World Cup qualifier against Ukraine we look at which other Bolton Wanderers team members are on international duty.

Jlloyd Samuel was meant to be playing for Trinidad and Tobago but once again he has had to miss out. There is a farce that surrounds Samuel’s non–involvement with the Soca Warriors. It starts with his flight details being emailed to him a few hours after the plane had taken off. The farce continued until Samuel picked up a groin injury during practise but not before his mother had made a complaint to the T&T manager.

Other Wanderers on International Duty

Welsh International Sam Ricketts will miss a trip to Helsinki due to an ankle injury. However, Bolton team–mate Jussi Jaaskelainen will be in Helsinki for the World Cup qualifier, in goal for Finland at the Olympiastadion. Jussi is also expected to travel to Hamburg on October 14, for Finland’s clash against Germany at the HSH Nordbank Arena.

While Jussi is in Germany his fellow BWFC goalkeeper, Ali Al Habsi will have travelled over 10,500 miles to Australia for a friendly. Ali will be between the sticks at the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne when Oman take on Australia.

Bolton’s Chung Yong Lee is back in South Korea where Senegal will visit the Seoul World Cup Stadium for a friendly — that will be a round trip more or less equal to Al Habsi’s one–way journey to Victoria in Oz.

Ivan Klasnic does not have to travel to far for Croatia’s friendly again Qatar ahead of their World Cup qualifier against Kazakhstan in Astana, Kazakhstan’s captial city.

Tamir Cohen probably gets the second least amount of airmiles (after Jussi) with a trip to Isreal and back to Bolton via Basel midweek for World Cup qualifiers against Moldova and Switzerland.

Danny Shittu (still a Trotter) travels to the capital of Nigeria, Abuja, to take part in the World Cup qualifier against Mozambique at the National Stadium. Nigeria are also set to play Kenya on Wednesday but this yet to be confirmed.

Sweden visit Copenhagen but it is not clear if Johan Elmander will be taking part in Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against group leaders Denmark or the midweek match against Albania.

Gary Cahill is not the only Wanderer to represent England at international level either. Fabrice Muamba will be playing for the England Under 21s tonight in and will be hoping to continue their unbeaten run in qualification for the 2011 UEFA Under-21 Championship against FYR Macedonia U21. Meanwhile Ricardo Vaz Te joins the Portugal U23s who take on Poland at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena.

Related Articles

• International Wanderers Weekend Roundup
• Midweek International Roundup
• Chelsea 4 – 0 Bolton Wanderers

TTFF manager takes Jlloyd for a joy ride
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Danny Shittu’s Uncertain Future

There are two conflicting reports which state Danny Shittu, Bolton’s out of favour defender, is finally leaving The Reebok Stadium. The Lowestoft Journal links the Nigerian with Ipswich Town while Tribal Football echoes The Mirror’s story that Sheffield United have landed Danny.

Ipswich Town

A move to Portman Road would probably welcomed by Tractor Boys’ manager, Roy Keane, who told the Lowestoft Journal;

“There’s just one or two areas where we are coming up short at the moment. It just happens that they are both very important. First, it’s defending properly, and second, it’s not scoring enough goals.

“I won’t comment on players who aren’t at this club, but I’m still very hopeful of bringing in two more loan players. We’ll be making a few more calls over the next few days.”

A phone call to Megson may not solve Keane’s defensive problems but at least there will be a steady flow of empathy.

Sheffield United

Meanwhile The Mirror says that Shittu is on the way to Bramall Lane today to sign a loan deal with The Blades and that this may turn into a purchase for £1.5m.

Not so long ago Danny was supposed to be signing for Portsmouth — then Newcastle United showed an interest too. He was also linked to Reading, Wolves and Birmingham too at the beginning of the year. I’m tempted to pluck a few random teams to add to the list but I can confirm that Mawdesley United, Nanpean Rovers, nor Lamlash have showed any interest in poor Danny.

Of course, at the time of writing, there is no news on any official club websites that Danny is leaving The Wanderers in the immediate future. The only certainty about Danny Shittu’s future is that it will not be with Bolton Wanderers. Probably.

Lowestoft Journal — Town linked to signing Shittu
TribalFootball — Sheffield Utd set to land Bolton defender Shittu

Rumours, Truth or Half-truths?

The English tradition of speculation and rumours about football players and which club they’re signing continues and will do so until the transfer window closes on September 1st. The media is full of transfer news, rumour and speculation, but the only sure way of finding out the truth is when a player holds up the home shirt of their new club for press photographers, even if it is too big.

Lee Chung–Yong Officially a Wanderer

That said, are you ready for the latest summary of rumours about who to expect at The Reebok?
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