Chelsea transfer gossip rumbles on
today with the blues again linked with a £40m move for David Villa. Meanwhile,
John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole are the only Chelsea players likely
to figure in this afternoon's England fixture against Kazakhstan (1600 BST -
you can watch it on Setanta).
Famous last words, but it should be a
straightforward game for England, with the Kazakhstan coach bemoaning his
players' lack of fitness earlier this week claiming they were some 10-15 years
behind the rest of Europe. Expect an interesting second half.
Terry - who will probably be joined in
defence by Matthew Upson in the absense of Rio Ferdinand, will be playing his
52nd game for his country. Capello has recently played Lampard in a more
withdrawn role for England alongside Gareth Barry to allow Steven Gerrard a
more attacking position, despite Frank's marginally superior international
record (15 goals from 69 appearanes to Gerrard's 15 from 72). Perhaps Fabio feels Frank has greater ability to play a more disciplined role. Ashley Cole will
play his 72 game for England, and is still looking for his first goal.
Look out for my report on the Chelsea
players' peformances and any other talking points later today. I'll also be
making regular updates to my twitter page throughout the game - check it out here.
bridgeviews prediction: Kazakhstan
0-4 England, 0-1 at half time
Pre-match in quotes:
Capello: "Tiredness
isn't an excuse. It's a long trip but we must remember that they played well in
the first half at Wembley. This is the problem, not the jet-lag and the
flight"
Terry: "It's
going to be a difficult game. They started the game well at Wembley and made it
difficult for us. BUt we find as a country that wherever we go everyone raises
their game and Kazakhstan are going to be no different. We know they're going
to press us early on...they key is to be organised and keep our
concentration".
Kazakhstan coach Bernd Storck: "Our
problem is we play like children. The players are flat on their backs. We lost
four goals in 10 minutes against Belarus. I've got big trouble with three big
clubs because they don't want to do what we do - regular testing, taking blood.
They train hard with no rest time. It's the old Russian system"
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