International Football
COVID-19 CHAOS LOOMS OVER WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS
Next week’s World Cup qualifying games in Europe and beyond are set to be heavily affected by clubs refusing to release players for international duty, Covid-19 quarantines and travel restrictions.
Inter Milan announced on Thursday (March 18) that all of their players will be pulled out of international duty after two more positive Covid-19 cases at the club.
German Bundesliga clubs are unlikely to release Austrian players for their country’s qualifier in Scotland on March 25 although the game is scheduled to go ahead with the visitors fielding a weakened side.
French Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs will not release foreign players called up for their national sides if the teams are playing outside the European Union (EU) due to the strict Covid-19 quarantine rules, the French professional league (LFP) said.
Fifa has relaxed its normal rules, which oblige clubs to release players for international duty, if there are travel restrictions to or from a location or if the player would be affected by quarantine rules at either their home base or the hosting city.
Inter’s ban on players leaving means Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku and Denmark’s Christian Eriksen will remain in Milan as well as the club’s Italy players ahead of the country’s matches against Northern Ireland, Bulgaria and Lithuania.
RB Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann said on Wednesday that his club would be stopping some of their players travelling.
“There is still no final list. We are looking for individual solutions for all of our selected players. But we won’t send any players to high-risk areas, or areas where there is a mutation of the virus, if it will force them to enter quarantine upon their return.”
Bayern Munich coach Hansi Flick said Austria defender David Alaba would not be released for the Scotland game and said it was unclear whether striker Robert Lewandowski would be released for games in Hungary and England and at home to Andorra.
“Alaba won’t be at the first game in Scotland. For Lewandowski we’re waiting again to see what the authorities say. We still have a few days left,” he said.
Borussia Dortmund’s 17-year-old midfielder Jude Bellingham was named on Thursday in the England squad to face San Marino, Albania and Poland, but he is unlikely to be allowed to join up due to Germany’s Covid-19 travel restrictions.
“We left him in the squad but at this moment it looks like quarantine rules in Germany will rule him out,” said England manager Gareth Southgate.
“We are still investigating what is possible and we wanted to name him in the squad.”
Full squad
However, France manager Didier Deschamps said he will have a full squad for their game at home to Ukraine and away to Kazakhstan and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“All players must come into our bubble in Clairefontaine (France’s training base). We have agreements with all the governments in the countries where French players are so that they can be available right now (for France) and also when they return to their clubs,” he told reporters on Thursday.
As well as the European games, qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup are being held in Asia and the Concacaf reigion covering North and Central America and the Caribbean.
African countries are anticipating a major haemorrhage of their key players as they go into the crucial last two rounds of Africa Cup of Nations qualifying.
Ordinarily, up to 400 players would be expected to travel from Europe to represent their home countries but Fifa’s edict means most teams will be considerably weakened for key ties.
As well as French clubs, those from Belgium, Germany, Norway, Russia and Slovakia have also refused call-ups, officials and coaches have told Reuters, and many more are expected to follow in the coming days.
“It is a bad decision, first of all, to allow clubs to refuse call-ups and then to even go ahead with the qualifiers,” said Gambia Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet, who has lost four players already and fears more will not be allowed to travel with his team’s qualification on the line.
“This quarantine is just a pretext to prevent players from coming to play for their country. Fifa should never have touched on the relationship between clubs and national teams,” he said.
“If today we prevent the players from coming for this round of qualifiers, what will happen tomorrow for the Africa Cup of Nations finals? It’s not going to end there.”
-Reuters
Former Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has been named the new head coach of the England national team, the country’s Football Association said in a statement on Wednesday.
The German, who is England’s third foreign manager, after Sweden’s Sven-Goran Eriksson and Italian Fabio Capello, will be assisted by Englishman Anthony Barry, the statement added.
“We are thrilled to have hired Thomas Tuchel, one of the best coaches in the world and Anthony Barry who is one of the best English coaches to support him,” FA CEO Mark Bullingham said.
Tuchel replaces Lee Carsley, England’s under-21 manager, who has been in temporary charge since the resignation of Gareth Southgate after England’s defeat by Spain in the Euro 2024 final in July.
-Reuters
German Thomas Tuchel has been appointed head coach of the England national team on Wednesday.
Born: Aug. 29, 1973 in Krumbach, Germany.
PLAYING CAREER
* Tuchel played for his local club TSV Krumbach, before moving to FC Augsburg’s academy at the age of 15.
* He never played for Augsburg’s senior side and joined German second division team Stuttgarter Kickers in 1992.
* After eight league appearances for Kickers, Tuchel moved to fourth-tier SSV Ulm.
* Tuchel made 69 league appearances for Ulm as a central defender before he was forced to retire in 1998 at the age of 25 due to a knee injury.
COACHING CAREER
* Tuchel began his coaching career with a youth team role at VfB Stuttgart in 2000, working with future Germany internationals Mario Gomez and Holger Badstuber.
* He returned to Augsburg and took charge of their reserve team for the 2007-08 season.
* Tuchel was appointed Mainz 05 manager in 2009, replacing compatriot Juergen Klopp.
* He guided Mainz to Bundesliga stability during his five-year stint at the club, gaining plaudits for his team’s high energy, attacking style of play.
* Tuchel took over from Klopp as Borussia Dortmund coach in 2015.
* He led Dortmund to a 2-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in the 2017 German Cup final. He was sacked by Dortmund three days later.
* Tuchel joined Paris St Germain in 2018 on a two-year contract, replacing Unai Emery.
* He won two Ligue 1 titles, including a domestic quadruple in his second season, and guided the club to their first Champions League final, where they lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich.
* Tuchel was sacked by PSG on Christmas Eve in 2020, despite the club finishing top of their Champions League group and sitting third in the Ligue 1 table.
* He was named Chelsea manager in January 2021 on an initial 18-month contract following the dismissal of Frank Lampard.
* Tuchel revived the team’s Premier League season and guided the London club to the Champions League final, where they beat Manchester City. Chelsea also won the Super Cup and Club World Cup.
* Chelsea sacked Tuchel in September 2022 following a shock 1-0 defeat at Dinamo Zagreb in their opening Champions League group game.
* Bayern Munich appointed Tuchel to succeed Julian Nagelsmann in March last year.
* Bayern decided to let Tuchel go at the end of the 2023-24 season despite a contract until 2025. Tuchel steered Bayern to the Bundesliga title in 2022-23, but they finished the last campaign without any silverware for the first time in more than a decade.
* Tuchel will become England’s third foreign manager after Sweden’s Sven-Goran Eriksson and Italian Fabio Capello.
* Tuchel will take over the team in January ahead of the qualification campaign for the 2026 World Cup.
-Reuters
Wolverhampton Wanderers forward Mateus Mane has become hot property after Portugal named the 17-year-old in their Under-18 squad on Friday, one day after England included him in their squad.
Mane was called up for a second successive England youth camp by coach Liam Bramley before the team travel to Marbella for a four-team tournament this month.
Mane is eligible for both teams having played for the Portugal Under-17 side last season. As the Under-18 team is a non-UEFA age group, both nations are entitled to call the player up.
He made his England international debut last month against the Portugal Under-18 side who have named Mane in their squad for a four-nation tournament this month.
With both tournaments running concurrently, Mane can only play for one team and Wolves and England confirmed he would feature in Bramley’s side.
Reuters has contacted Portugal’s football association for clarification.
While players with multiple nationalities have played for more than one country if they are eligible, they are not allowed to switch allegiances at senior level – unless they have played only in friendly matches for the first country.
-Reuters
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