Monday, August 10, 2009

England face Dutch as Spain mourns death of Jarque

Hamburg - England head to Amsterdam looking forward to a prestigious friendly against the Netherlands Wednesday while European champions Spain travel to Macedonia in sombre mood following the sudden death of Espanyol defender Daniel Jargue.

The former Spanish U-21 international died on Saturday after suffering a massive heart attack whilst in his room in Italy, where Espanyol were on tour.

The 26-year-old's death has shocked Spanish football and although he had not been called up for the full team, Jarque was reportedly part of national manager Vicente del Bosque's plans for the 2010 World Cup.

There will be a minute's silence in honour of Jarque before Wednesday's friendly, and the Spanish players will wear black armbands.

"It will not be easy," said Del Bosque on Sunday, "to play a football match after what has happened." He described Jarque as "a good person and a promising young player."

Meanwhile, Fabio Capello's England will be looking to improve on the last time they met one of the favourites for the World Cup and were outplayed by Del Bosque's Spain.

The Dutch have already qualified for next summer's finals and are likely to present equally tough competition.

"The game is a good chance for us against one really important country," Capello said. "They are ranked third in the FIFA rankings, so it will be a really good test before we play Croatia (in the World Cup, in September)."

With the match against Holland coming four days before the start of the new English league season, Capello has vowed to name his strongest side.

United goalkeeper Ben Foster will compete with Robert Green and Paul Robinson for the starting goalkeeping spot, while in attack, Wayne Rooney is likely to be partnered by Emile Heskey.

Frank Lampard, who is likely to form a midfield alongside Steven Gerrard, Gareth Barry and David Beckham or Theo Walcott, said he expected a tough examination from a Holland side that can call on four English-based players in Dirk Kuyt, Ryan Babel, Robin van Persie and Nigel de Jong, while former Chelsea winger Arjen Robben is also available.

"It is going to be hard," Lampard said. "They have obviously qualified because they are a good team and are playing well. It will be interesting to play against a team who are going to the World Cup as one of the favourites and who play very good football."

World champions Italy visit Switzerland looking to put behind them the harrowing defeats to Egypt and Brazil at the Confederations Cup in June.

Marcello Lippi has called up for the first time Genoa defender Domenico Criscito and Juventus's midfielder Claudio Marchisio, both coming from the Azzurri's youth team.

Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, captain Fabio Cannavaro and seven other world champion veterans are still in the lineup, while young full-backs Davide Santon and Giorgio Chiellini, plus striker Giuseppe Rossi, are confirmed from previous games.

"Only by mixing older and younger players, can you hope to have one chance in a billion to win the World Cup again," Lippi told Sky TV. "You could try a total overhaul, but it's likely that you won't win anything for a dozen years."

Ireland, who are the only real threat for the world champions in their World Cup qualifying group, are also involved in friendly action with Giovanni Trapattoni's side playing Australia.

World Cup hosts South Africa entertain Group 7 leaders Serbia in Pretoria, Brazil play Estonia in Tallinn, Portugal visit Liechtenstein and Russia take on Argentina in Moscow in other high- profile friendlies.

No comments:

Post a Comment