A staggering 15 first team squad players are off representing their country this week, and another 5 at the youth level. Here is a link to the Club post giving all the details - http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2013/march/21/international-whites Wonder how many of our oppenents on April 1st are doing similar?
Costa Rica playing in the snow? And no prizes for guessing who scored in their 1-0 defeat to the USA. Our Norwegian pair must be "well gutted" also, losing to Albania!! Here is the link to the full round-up from the Club - http://www.fulhamfc.com/news/2013/march/23/international-round-up
I was kind of intrigued by the report that the USA v Costa Rica game was "snowy" - in fact it was "bizarre" [video=youtube;drsEVKk7dzg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drsEVKk7dzg&feature=player_detailpage[/video]
I guess the Costa Rican FA is protesting the game, trying to get the result thrown out. Yet, when the Costa Rican team plays at home against the US and Canada , they usually go for 3 pm start time, when it's about 45 c with 100% humidity. So SUCK IT, Costa Rica FA! (By the way, Costa Rica is supposed to be a wonderful place to vacation.) Ruiz was probably saying to himself, "Snow? What's the problem. I've been playing in this for the last six months."
More of the team were involved at the weeekend: On Saturday, Philippe Senderos was a 52nd-minute substitute as Switzerland drew 0-0 in Cyprus in Group E of the European Qualifying section. Emmanuel Frimpong made his international debut for Ghana on Sunday as a substitute in a 4-0 win over Sudan in Group D of the African section of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. please log in to view this image Frimpong had previously represented England at youth level but has since switched allegiance to his country of birth. He was introduced from the bench just after the hour mark as the Black Stars romped to a comprehensive win in Kumasi. After first-half goals from Asamoah Gyan and Mubarak Wakaso, further strikes in the second period by Majeed Waris and Emmanuel Agyemang Badu wrapped up the victory. The win pushes the Black Stars to just one point behind Zambia with three matches to go in the Second Round stage of Qualifying. On Sunday, Neil Etheridge was an unused substitute as the Philippines thrashed Cambodia 8-0 in an AFC Challenge Cup 2014 Qualifier. The Philippines play Turkmenistan on Tuesday. Omri Altman did get some match action, stepping off the substitutesâ bench as Israel Under-21s lost 2-1 to Germany in a friendly.
I know our total includes players such as Joronen who was on the Finland bench, but this is nonetheless an interesting list (of the number of players per club on International duty in the last week) please log in to view this image
Something to be proud of for sure, but increases the risk of one or two of them picking up an injury, as has been the case with Ruiz.
