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Friday Football
09 November 2007
by Jerrad Peters

WAYNE Rooney will miss England's crucial EURO 2008 qualifier against Croatia after injuring his ankle in training this morning. The 22-year-old Manchester United forward, named the Premier League's Player of the Month for October after scoring eight goals in his past seven matches, will also be unavailable for United's next four league games. The exact details of today's mishap have yet to be disclosed; but Rooney was spotted leaving the club's Carrington training facilities on crutches. England manager Steve McClaren was informed immediately. While United boss Sir Alex Ferguson will be able to slot Louis Saha into Rooney's position, McClaren loses a player who scored in each of England's past two matches. Michael Owen will be an automatic selection to McClaren's squad; and, based on his recent performances, Peter Crouch should be awarded the accompanying role. But McClaren has been reluctant to use the lanky Liverpool striker in the past and may be more inclined to start one of Alan Smith or Jermaine Defoe.

David Beckham will make his first appearance for the national side since the loss to Germany in September. After recovering from knee and ankle injuries, the Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder has played in a pair of exhibition encounters against the Vancouver Whitecaps and a squad of Hollywood selects. Still, McClaren is indebted to the 32-year-old for a series of superb performances last spring which kept England's hopes of qualifying for the EURO 2008 finals alive. Nonetheless, England will be relying on a Russian slip-up in Israel in order to maintain any legitimate aspirations when Croatia visit Wembley on 21 November.

Bolton Wanderers' storybook draw at Bayern Munich may be playing to rave reviews in Lancashire; but the mood in Bavaria is another thing entirely. "I'm really annoyed," muttered Bayern president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in the aftermath of the 2-2 result at Alianz Arena. "It would have been very easy to win this one and advance. The spectators have a right to see the best team play. Football is not mathematics." Rummenigge was furious over manager Ottmar Hitzfeld's substitutions of Franck Ribery and Bastien Schweinsteiger in the second-half. "I hope I know the basic maths of football," quipped Hitzfeld when informed of the president's remarks. Hitzfeld was a mathematics student in University. He continued, "I'm used to stormy weather. You shouldn't let yourself be influenced by such petty issues." The draw was Bayern's third such result in their past four matches. They played to scoreless decisions in Dortmund late last month and this past Sunday against Eintracht Frankfurt.

The Premier League's leading goalscorer will be a January transfer target of Juventus. Benjani has scored eight goals so far this term and has been a major factor behind Portsmouth's early-season success. Manager Harry Redknapp may face a battle to keep the Zimbabwe international at Fratton Park, however. Claudio Ranieri is lining up a move for the 29-year-old with an eye to boltstering Juve's striking corps. David Trezeguet leads the Serie-A in scoring; but Vincenzo Iaquinta has yet to catch fire in his new surroundings after a summer move from Udinese.

Barcelona are desperate to off-load Eidur Gudjohnsen. Since his highly-publicized move from Chelsea to the Nou Camp last summer, the Iceland international has scored just five goals in 29 Liga appearances. And with the arrival of Thierry Henry and the enhanced contributions of Lionel Messi and Giovanni dos Santos, the 29-year-old will be shown the exit in January. Each of West Ham, Portsmouth, and Manchester City are in the mix for the 8M-pound-rated forward. The injury bug has bitten almost everyone at Upton Park so far this season; while Harry Redknapp may have his eye on Gudjohnsen as a replacement for Benjani. Sven-Goran Eriksson, meanwhile, will be signing at least one additional striker when the transfer window opens in the new year.

If he misses out on Gudjohnsen, Eriksson is likely to make an offer for Roman Pavlyuchenko. Currently with Spartak Moscow, the 25-year-old terrorized England in the Russian capital last month -- scoring two goals in a famous defeat of the Three Lions. Spartak boss Leonid Fedun, however, will be reluctant to sell the striker for a menial fee. "If he carries on playing the way he is at the moment," stated Fedun, "he won't be going anywhere." Spartak have rated Pavlyuchenko at approximately 10M-pounds.

Arsenal are tracking Martin Caceres. Currently on loan to Recreativo Huelva from Villarreal, the 20-year-old has also drawn interest from Real Madrid. But the Gunners will lose Kolo Toure to the African Cup of Nations in January and are desperate to bolster their corps of centre-halves. Caceres, a Uruguayan international, is seen as his country's up-and-coming star.