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Ballack Back In The German Fold

Michael Ballack has been included in the German squad to face Austria next week.

Out of international action and contention since last March, Ballack has been plagued by injury in recent months. While he hasn’t exactly starred for Chelsea either, he did make the field last night scoring against Reading.

His goal too helped Chelsea to extend their unbeaten league run at Stamford Bridge to a massive 75 games.

German coach Joachim Loew insists that Ballack is a key part of Germany’s plans for success in Euro 2008, though I still feel he needs to up his game a notch in England, especially with Germany tipped for first place in this summer’s competition.

Germany’s regular back four are all out of action for next week’s friendly and as a result, Loew is set to hand debuts to both Jermaine Jones and Heiko Westermann.

Germany are drawn in group B alongside Austria, Poland and Croatia.

Popularity: 42% [?]

Clubs Will Get Cash Compensation For Euro 2008

UEFA have announced that clubs who will have players on international duty at Euro 2008 will be compensated financially.

The packaged outlined earlier in the week will see clubs paid €4,000 for each day a player is involved in the latter stages of the tournament. The same rule will also apply to the World Cup in 2010 and beyond.

The cash is to be shared between any club a player has been with in the two years prior to the tournament. E.g. in the case of Fernando Torres, compensation would be due to both Liverpool and Atletico Madrid, whereby come the World Cup compensation would be due strictly to Liverpool.

The package was revealed at the launch of the European Club Association (which replaces the fabled G14) and sees UEFA putting aside an estimated €43.5m for Euro 2008 and a further €55m for Euro 2012 while FIFA have set aside €76m to cover the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.

In the same announcement it was also revealed that the African Cup Of Nations will move closer to a summer date when the tournament (on at the moment) comes around in 2016.

Popularity: 56% [?]

Mexes Backing Italy For Euro 2008?

He’s not exactly a regular fixture in the French side for Raymond Domenech but Phillipe Mexes is backing Italy to come out of the ‘Group Of Death’ and go on and win the European Championship this summer.

Mexes would be a starter in almost any European side but he’s only played international football for France on eight occasions, largely due to his controversial move to Roma.

If France are to make a claim for the trophy I genuinely think that Domenech should be considering Mexes for his squad for the summer tournament, if not, it will likely take a change of manager to get Mexes back in the fold for France at a major tournament.

Controversies aside (if you can say that), Mexes thinks that Italy “are going to do the double, like France did in 1998 and 2000″, Italy looking as strong as ever after they beat France in the World Cup final in Germany in 2006. Of course, all that depends on what France and Holland have to say, both of whom can stop Italy coming out of the group stage.

Popularity: 89% [?]

Serkan Won’t Play For Germany, Prefers Turkey

Serkan Çalık has decided his national future lies with Turkey. Despite having been born in Germany and having played for Germany at U21 level, Serkan has declared his future lies with Turkey.

Last summer Serkan moves from Rot-Weiss Essen, signing for Galatasaray. His ambition now is “to play for Turkey at senior level”. While he’s enjoyed some time on the pitch with the U21, he has told the Germany FA that his future lies away from his birth nation.

While the news might disappoint German fans of Serkan, the Turkish FA should be happy. Turning 22 in March, the striker has scored twice in the Turkish league this season in eleven games, while also featuring in Galatasaray’s UEFA Cup run, scoring once so far and helping Galatasaray to the last 32 of the competition.

Popularity: 100% [?]

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