International friendly preview: France v Estonia

France will complete their Euro 2012 preparations with a friendly game against Estonia in Le Mans on Tuesday.

Should France avoid defeat at the MMArena, as is widely expected, they will head into the European Championships unbeaten in 21 matches.

Laurent Blanc’s side have won 14 of their last 20 games, overcoming the likes of England, Brazil and Germany in the process.

Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery and Chelsea’s Florent Malouda scored inside the opening 16 minutes as France outclassed Serbia 2-0 in their most recent outing last week.

Blanc, who is leading France into a major tournament for the first time, is likely to persist with Ribery, Samir Nasri and Karim Benzema up front against Estonia.

“We’re looking for perfection, but that doesn’t exist,” Blanc told TF1.

“We were in better physical shape (against Serbia), but we’re not yet ready.

“We knew the three attackers – Ribery, Nasri and Benzema – had the technical and the individual quality, but they had to prove they could play together.

“They showed they can. They showed the right attitude and I hope it continues.

“Physically, we’ll be in even better condition against Estonia in our third and final preparation match.”

France face England, Sweden and hosts Ukraine in Group D at Euro 2012, with their opening match against Roy Hodgson’s men in Donetsk on June 11.

Estonia, 54th in the FIFA rankings, head to Le Mans on the back of outings against Finland and Lithuania in the biannual Baltic Cup last weekend.

Tarmo Ruutli’s men were defeated 2-1 by Finland on Friday before overcoming Lithuania 1-0 on Sunday.

Striker Vladimir Voskoboinikov, who netted in the win over Lithuania, is likely to be a threat, but France should be too strong as they look to continue their excellent run of form.

Source : http://www.soccernews.com/international-friendly-preview-france-v-estonia/95884/

Nani looks to prove fitness

Portugal winger Nani is hopeful of being fit for his nation’s opening Euro 2012 match against Germany.

Nani suffered a foot injury in Portugal’s 3-1 defeat to Turkey in an international friendly on Saturday.

“Yes, it was a scare. It was a very dangerous challenge, I was in a lot of pain, I still am a bit, but I think I will recover well in the next few days,” he told reporters.

“We will see when I return to Portugal’s camp. It may have caused a small strain. I believe I can play against Germany.”

The Manchester United midfielder has five days in which to continue his recovery before facing the Germans.

Group B also includes Denmark and Netherlands.

Nani has netted 13 times in 54 games for Portugal since making his debut six years ago as a teenager.

Source : http://www.soccernews.com/nani-looks-to-prove-fitness/95845/

International friendly: Netherlands 2 Slovakia 0

The Netherlands avoided a second-straight defeat by beating Slovakia 2-0 in an international friendly in Rotterdam on Wednesday.

After a loss to Bulgaria in an international friendly over the weekend, Bert Van Marwijk’s men made no mistake in front of their home fans as an own goal from Kornel Salata and a strike from substitute Rafael Van der Vaart separated the teams.

Amid a raucous atmosphere at De Kuip, the hosts stormed into the lead after only eight minutes.

Ibrahim Afellay was the instigator, drilling a low centre across the face of goal that was inadvertently turned in by Salata.

The Netherlands could have added a second goal within minutes, but Robin van Persie fired off target after getting past Peter Pekarik.

Slovakia were handed a route back into the match just before the half-hour mark when Maarten Stekelenburg inexplicably elected to pick up a back pass from defender Gregory van der Wiel.

Miroslav Stoch lined up the set-piece from just outside the six-yard box, but could only blast harmlessly into the side-netting.

The Fenerbahce winger went even closer to an equaliser moments later, when his effort from a tight angle rebounded off the post, following a swift counter-attack led by Marek Hamsik.

Neither team seemed in any great hurry to force the issue coming out from the interval, with goalmouth action remaining elusive for much of the second half.

The hosts were handed a chance to break the monotony with just under 20 minutes to go, after Van der Vaart was felled on the edge of the area by Marek Cech.

The Tottenham midfielder stepped up to take the free-kick, but saw a wonderful effort smack back off the frame of the goal, with Jan Mucha completely beaten.

The Dutch went close again a few minutes later when Van der Wiel’s delivery flashed dangerously across goal, and somehow ended up in the arms of Mucha after a touch by Afellay.

They would eventually get their second courtesy of a combination between two substitutes.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar appeared to have been blocked off by a pair of Slovak defenders inside the area, but did just enough to tee up Van der Vaart for a straightforward drive into the far corner.

Van Marwijk’s side round off their Euro 2012 preparations with their final friendly match against Northern Ireland on Saturday at the Amsterdam Arena.

Source : http://www.soccernews.com/international-friendly-netherlands-2-slovakia-0/95550/

Podolski: We'll be ready World Soccer Shop

Lukas Podolski says Germany will be fit when it counts after a succession of recent disappointments for Joachim Low's national team.

Podolski: No concerns

A 5-3 defeat to Switzerland at the weekend came a week after Bayern Munich lost the final of the Champions League and there could justifiably be a few dropped heads in the Germany camp, but Podolski trusts their tournament mentality to kick in when it matters.

The eight Bayern players in Low's preliminary 27-man squad were put through their paces in training for the first time after the Champions League final on Monday and that also gives Podolski reason to be optimistic.

"There is no doubt that with the eight Bayern players here, the quality improves," he said.

"They are top guys and we have missed them."

Their experience was certainly lacking on Saturday when Germany were humbled 5-3 by the Swiss.

Yet Podolski is not reading too much into that result, or the performance, as he focuses on Germany's first group game against Portugal on June 9.

"It has been the same in previous years, when we lost 4-1 to Italy (in 2006), for example," Podolski said on the website of the German Football Association (DFB).

"Of course defeats like this shouldn't happen and they hurt, and losing 5-3 to Switzerland is definitely not on, but I can promise there will be a different team on the field (against Portugal).

"We have got to live with the criticism. We are all focusing on Portugal and have got to be fit for that game, and we will be fit."

To take their minds of the defeat in Basle, 25 members of Low's squad paid a visit to the Monaco Grand Prix yesterday.

"It was a good day for us to get our heads free," said Podolski.

"I enjoyed it and the lads enjoyed it too, but now we are focusing on the Euros."

Source : http://soccer365.com//news/european_news/general/17305/podolski__we_ll_be_ready

Hertha appeal DFB ruling World Soccer Shop

Hertha Berlin are continuing their fight against relegation to the second division.

Fortuna: Celebrate their promotion

Hertha claim the play-off defeat to Fortuna Dusseldorf was unable to reach a natural conclusion after hundreds of Fortuna fans invaded the pitch with over a minute of the game remaining.

The final 90 seconds were played after a delay of 20 minutes to clear the field and Hertha say they were unable to concentrate on playing football.

The German FA rejected their appeal, but Hertha have called for another hearing.

They have a further 24 hours to present their appeal against the DFB's ruling and, in the meantime, both clubs are continuing to train in case the second leg of the play-off for a place in the Bundesliga next season is indeed replayed.

"This is not a judgement that we can accept," said Hertha's solicitor Christoph Schickhardt on the club's website.

"It is not acceptable for all those interested in sport. Everybody saw that it was an irregular game. It was not a football game in the end.

"The judge spoke of it being a positive pitch invasion. That is quite a funny term for what we all saw."

Hertha insist that, even if the Fortuna fans invaded the pitch out of joy and not with the explicit intent of menacing their players, it was still "impossible to concentrate on playing football" when the teams returned with Hertha needing a goal to stay up.

"For Hertha BSC (Berlin), it is fully inconceivable that the result of a game can only be overturned when a player is actually physically injured," said a club statement.

Hertha have meanwhile apologised for the conduct of their players after the final whistle when they remonstrated with referee Wolfgang Stark and tried to gain access to his dressing room.

Fortuna held on to a 2-2 draw to seal a 4-3 aggregate win over Hertha to gain promotion back to the Bundesliga for the first time in 15 years.

Source : http://soccer365.com//news/european_news/general/16902/hertha_appeal_dfb_ruling