Excellent news as U21 players begin to get recognition - "Fulham Under-21 forward Omri Altman has been included in the Israel squad for the upcoming European Under-21 Championships to be held in his homeland. Israel have been drawn in Group A alongside England, Italy and Norway and the 19-year-old Whites prospect is the only player to be playing for a foreign side in the squad. The tournament begins on June 5th and Israel play England on June 11th. Fulham Under-21 Manager Kit Symons said: âItâs a fantastic experience for him and they are in a group with England as well, so he gave Steve Wigley [England U21 Assistant Manager] a knowing look when he left the building. The squad have a lot of good forward players, so it will be tough for him but he finished the season strongly and heâs a very talented player. âIâm sure it will be a brilliant experience for him and hopefully he will get some good game time, but no matter what he will certainly come back to us a better player for being out there.â Elsewhere in the development squad, Muamer Tankovic has been selected to represent Sweden U19s in the UEFA U19 Championships (Elite Round, Mini Tournament) in Vienna, Austria from Sunday 2nd June. Defender Liam Donnelly has been selected to represent Northern Ireland U21s in their European Qualifying Match against Cyprus on Thursday 30th May. Cameron Burgess has also been selected to represent Scotland U20s in the Den Haag Youth Tournament at the Kyocera Stadium, Den Haag between Friday 31st May - Sunday 2nd June."
Jack Grimmer captained Scotland in their 2-2 draw with Belgium yesterday. The teams are playing in a UEFA U19 Championship in Belgium. Other teams in this group are England and Georgia who drew 1-1. Here is a link giving details about the tournament - http://www.uefa.com/under19/index.html
Four more of the lads are due to represent their country in a series of upcoming international friendly fixtures. Kerim Frei is the first to be involved as Turkey compete in two matches in Germany. Latvia will provide the opposition on Tuesday 28th, before they face Slovenia on Friday 31st. Despite injuries disrupting Frei’s 2012/13 campaign, the young winger has never been far from Turkey manager Abdullah Avcı’s thoughts and he will be hoping to add to his three caps this week. On-loan Stanislav Manolev is in the Bulgaria squad for their match against Japan at the Toyota Stadium in Nagoya on Thursday 30th. Manolev made five appearances for the Whites during his spell in SW6, but he has been a regular for the national team this season, scoring in three matches; against Italy, Armenia and Denmark. Fellow loanee Eyong Enoh has been rewarded for his consistently good performances for Fulham with a call-up to the Cameroon squad. With World Cup Qualifiers on the horizon, their preparations start with a friendly match against the Ukraine in Kiev on Sunday 2nd June. Another who ended the season strongly is Alexander Kačaniklić. Now a regular in the Sweden setup, Kačaniklić is in the squad once again for their friendly match in Malmo against Macedonia on Monday 3rd and, if he plays, it will be his fifth appearance of the current season for the national side.
Just for the record, England and Scotland both failed to qualify. Georgia won the Group - details here: http://www.uefa.com/under19/news/newsid=1953198.html And while on the subject, Kerim Frei was brought on for the final half hour of Turkey’s 3-3 international friendly draw with Latvia in Duisburg, Germany on Tuesday evening. Also, young Mr Frei has been selected for the Turkey U20 World Cup squad. The Turkish manager said, ""Kerim Frei accepted our request to play in the U20 team, he said it would be an honour to represent Turkey in the competition." Source: http://www.turkish-football.com/news_read.php?id=4676
Stan the Man scores again for his country - "On-loan defender Stanislav Manolev scored a fine free-kick as Bulgaria defeated Japan 2-0 in a friendly match at Toyota Stadium on Thursday. please log in to view this image Manolev, whose current loan spell at Fulham comes to an end next month, started the game on the right wing and put Bulgaria ahead as early as the third minute when he hammered a free-kick past goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima. About 30 yards out, Manolev struck the ball with ferocity and it dipped and swerved into the net to put Bulgaria ahead. With Japan failing to get themselves back into it, the second goal came late in the game, but was from another free-kick as Makoto Hasebe turned the ball into his own net in the 71st minute. Manolev then departed eight minutes later for substitute Yordan Hristov, shortly after picking up a booking, and Bulgaria held on to keep their clean sheet and pick up the win." And elsewhere - "On Wednesday night, Israel finished their UEFA European Under-21 Championship preparations with a 1-0 victory against Slovakia in Haifa and Omri Altman came on to play the second half. Israel went ahead in eight minutes through Alon Turgeman and, despite Altman having a good chance in the second half, it stayed that way for the rest of the game."
I've since found a video clip of Stan's goal - the earlier description is maybe a tiny tad generous. http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/japan-0-bulgaria-2/
No rest for the wicked - loads of the lads are out performing for their country over the next week. Alexander Kačaniklić will be hoping to add to his seven caps when Sweden host Macedonia in a friendly on Monday evening. The youngster could feature as the Swedes warm up for two World Cup Qualifiers – they travel to Austria in a Group C clash on Friday, before hosting the Faroe Islands next week. Mark Schwarzer and Australia then head to Japan for a World Cup Qualifier in Group B of the Asia section on Tuesday. The Socceroos, who are third in their group, have a game in hand over Japan and Jordan but can do their qualification hopes a world of good with a win in Saitama. On the same day, Stanislav Manolev and Bulgaria head to Kazakhstan for a friendly. Manolev, whose current loan spell at Fulham expires this month, scored a fine free-kick as Bulgaria defeated Japan 2-0 in a friendly match at Toyota Stadium last week, meaning he should be well placed to start again. Elsewhere on Tuesday, goalkeeper Neil Etheridge and the Philippines begin the first of three friendlies in a week when they play Hong Kong. They then head to Kyrgyzstan on Saturday. And in Group 3 of the Elite Qualifying Round for the Under-19 European Championships, Lasse Vigen Christensen could play a part as Denmark take on the Czech Republic. Denmark play Bulgaria on Thursday, before a date with Portugal on Sunday. On Wednesday, Muamer Tankovic and Sweden play France in Group 1 before a game against Austria on Friday. In Group 2, Sean Kavanagh and Noe Baba will be bidding to start when the Republic of Ireland play Switzerland on Thursday, Slovakia on Saturday and then Serbia the following Tuesday. On Wednesday, Omri Altman and hosts Israel begin their UEFA European Under-21 Championship campaign with a Group A clash against Norway. They play Italy on Saturday before concluding the initial fixtures against England next week. On Friday, defender Brede Hangeland and fourth-placed Norway are away to Albania in a World Cup Group E Qualifier, where a win would see them leapfrog their hosts. A busy day of international competition then sees Giorgos Karagounis and second-placed Greece away to Lithuania in a Group G Qualifier. Later that night, Bryan Ruiz and Costa Rica face Honduras at home in a CONCACAF Qualifier which could put them top if Panama fail to beat Mexico. On Saturday, Philippe Senderos and Switzerland play host to Cyprus in a friendly and [/B]Eyong Enoh and leaders Cameroon will look to do better than their recent 0-0 friendly draw with Ukraine when they play Togo on Sunday in Group I of the World Cup Qualifiers of the African section.
Kaca just scored a header ! Bit of a sitter, poorly defended, but good for the lad. Playing more centrally - sort of "inside left" in old money - doing quite nicely.
Had a good chance for a second quickly afterwards, which hit the crossbar. The commentators are full of praise for him - he just needs us to sign Ibrahimovic to set them up for him by the looks of it.
To be fair we do have Berbatov, who has set up most of Kaca's goals this year. I've said it before, but I hope we experiment with Kaca and Ruiz swapping positions during games. Kaca seems a decent threat through the middle.
Agreed Surly and it seemed to be working in the only game (Reading I think) Jol tried Kaca in the middle but he then subbed him. Thanks, tosh. He ended up with the solitary and winning goal. Seems to have got his confidence back. This is a link to a report of the match - http://www.macedonianfootball.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5612:sweden-macedonia-10&catid=13:international&Itemid=64
He was really working well with Ibrahimovic - I think he listens to and works at feeding off Berba too. I was impressed with his performance in the middle - linking well, getting into good positions, had probs 5 efforts on goal, scored one/should have been at least two. All in just over an hour, before he was subbed. Good experience for the lad. He looked confident, part of the team, was asking for passes and communicating with colleagues - I think he may be maturing.
Can we throw Messi somewhere into the mix as well? We could make one of those three play at left back, just for a laugh.
Philippines beat Hong Kong for the first time after mammoth Neil Etheridge performance. please log in to view this image Here is a link to the full story: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/311409/sports/football/azkals-philippines-beat-hong-kong-for-the-first-time-after-mammoth-neil-etheridge-performance
Philippines beat Hong Kong for the first time after a mammoth Neil Etheridge performance. please log in to view this image Here is a link to the full story: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/311409/sports/football/azkals-philippines-beat-hong-kong-for-the-first-time-after-mammoth-neil-etheridge-performance
And our other goalkeeper couldn't stop Japan being the first team to qualify for the World Cp. "Mark Schwarzer was unable to help Australia to a win as Japan clinched a late 1-1 draw in their 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier. Here is a link to this story: http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2013/june/04/schwarzer-denied
