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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Gary Cahill Thrilled to be Training with England Squad

Gary Cahill has joined the England squad for training ahead of the contentious yet historic game against Ukraine at the Dnipro Stadium tomorrow (Saturday, October 10, 2009).

He told the official BWFC website;

“It’s great to be training alongside players of that calibre, especially with me being a few years behind the centre-backs at the moment. They’ve achieved things you want to achieve in your own career and that spurs you on as well.

“You can always learn off good players. I’ve still got things to learn, and to learn off players like that who have been there and done it, is only going to bring my game on. That is why I like coming away with England.

“I was thrilled to get the call-up and to work with these guys can only help me.”

From Villa to England, Via Bolton

Talking to The Guardian Gary Cahill says that Aston Villa manager, Martin O’Neill made a mistake in letting him leave for Bolton Wanderers.
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Ukraine Versus England Internet and Cinema Only — Good or Bad?

The Future of Live Football

If you want to watch England in this Saturday’s World Cup qualifier against Ukraine you have three choices — travel to Dnipropetrovsk or watch it live on the internet or at a cinema.

Setanta would have been showing the match on TV if the company had not ceased trading in June 2009. A press release from digital media company Perform explains how they became involved in the deal.

“The international football agency Kentaro, acquired the broadcast rights from the Ukrainian FA and had sold the game to Setanta in December 2007. However the pay-TV broadcaster went into administration over the summer leaving this key match without a UK broadcaster.

With no offers on the table from UK free to air or pay-TV broadcasters Kentaro decided to seek the widest possible online audience, appointing digital sport specialist Perform, to market and stream the match online, on a pay-per-view basis.”

Being able to watch live sport online is not new concept, however this historic, yet contentious broadcast, is the first time that an England match has been broadcast exclusively on the internet and probably the first time there has been live football in cinemas too.
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