Sounds like waffle to me. But it must be said, rumours the Portuguese Mourinho won't be Chelsea manager next season because of a bust up with Roman Abramovich are rife at the moment. That's despite Chelsea remaining in 3 competitions, with the League Cup already in the bag. Mourinho is currently 6/4 2nd favourite behind Sir Alex Ferguson to be voted manager of the 2006/2007 season.
Manager of the Year 2006-07 Odds (ladbrokes) Alex Ferguson 1/2 Jose Mourinho 6/4 Steve Coppell 16/1 Rafael Benitez 20/1 Sam Allardyce 66/1
Personally, I don't think foreign managers should manage International football teams. For me, to manage Englnad, you must be eligible to play for England. The same for any other international football team.
That said, if McClaren is sacked from his role as England coach, and a foreign manager is to be put in place, Jose Mourinho would be rather high up on my list.
Los Angeles Galaxy manager, ex Padova and USA soccer international centre back Alexi Lalas is not too keen on David Beckham ambitions about playing any football for the England national team again, especially not in friendly matches.
Of course, Lalas has the job of recouping the 1/4 of a billion dollar investment in Beckham. Beckham travelling across the pond, via an 11 hour flight, 8 times a year or so, is not in the best interest of LA Galaxy whatsoever.
However, David Beckham has said before he wants to play for England in the 3 Lions shirt again, and is available for selection if Steve McLaren has a change of heart, however unlikely that may be.
Beckham is 6 games away from the 100 cap milestone. Becks best chance of playing for England again though, is if The FA are swayed by the groundswell of anti-McClaren feeling amongst many England fans and the English press, and replace the current under fire England manager with a manager more open to Beckham's claims for an England midfield berth. It is not impossible, Beckham's free kicks from dead ball situations are a real weapon at any level of football.
Lalas On Beckham Playing Football For England Again "I recognise there are challenges and there is a lot of travel involved, so the games would have to be meaningful. I have talked to David and playing for England is something he holds dear.
"I don't want to be in the way of him wanting to continue, but if it's something he feels is appropriate I will drive him to LAX myself. It will be a great statement for him and our club."
England U21s v Slovakia International Under-21 Friendly 8pm, Tuesday 5 June, 2007 Carrow Road, Norwich City FC
The England U21s will play their final friendly preparation match for the U21s Euro Championships against The Slovakian U21 Team. The match will be played at Carrow Road (Norwich) on Tursday, June 5, 2007.
England's last U21 match ended in a 3-3 draw against the Italian U21s at Wembley (march 24), a result which kept the U21's unbeaten record for this season intact.
Let's hope the youngsters can take that form to Holland in the summer. If they do, Stuart Pearce's U21 charges have half a chance of returning with some silverware.
Kenny Swain's England Under 16's side could not overcome the German youngsters, but the manager was happy with his players. 3 clean sheets against the USA, France and Ireland under 16's was plenty enough for Swain.
U16's Boss Kenny Swain Said "It's a disappointing result, and I think there is a case to say that the better team today hasn't won the game, but the players can hold their heads high."
"I'm delighted with how the players have played this week, the performance levels have gone up with each match and in terms of their progress as international players, they are right on course.
"Germany had two direct strikers that caused us problems early on, and they have take advantage of some sloppy defending from us, but we never stopped believing we could get back into the game.
"We controlled the game and played some of the best football of the tournament, but ultimately the damage was done in conceding two early goals."
♠ England U16's 0 - Germany U16's 2 Match ReportEngland U16's Final Team: England: 13 Declan Rudd, 14 Adam Smith, 3 Ben Gordon (17 Mitchell McPike 68), 4 Oliver Norwood (10 John Bostock 65), 5 Kyle Bartley, 6 Thomas Cruise, 7 Matthew James, 9 Nathan Delfouneso, 18 Harry Forrester, 11 Andros Townsend (12 Adam Phillip 61), 16 Jacob Mellis (15 Nicholas Ajose 55)
U16's Subs Not Used: 1 Wesley Foderingham, 2 Chris Solly
Israel 0 England 0 Ok, so England drew 0-0 Away In Israel - the fans booed, the press jeered and the bookies cheered. The bookmakers had England odds on favourites (8/13) to beat Israel, in Israel. Israel recently went on an unbeaten run of 14 games, playing the likes of France and Italy in there. I never had a bet, I have enough on the England already. If I had wagered, the draw was the bet. What's the big problem?
Andorra 0 England 3 England Beat Andorra 3-0 Away - the fans booed, the press jeered and the bookies never gave a toss with England at 1/100 odds on.
Why were the England fans booing? Because we never trounced a team within 20 minutes while they placed 12 men behind the ball? A team who were fouling and aggressively trying their damndest to wind our players up?
I hear talk of: "It was a premier league versus a non league side situation." Well i'll have you know many non-league versus premier teams FA cup ties have ended up in defeat for the big boys, let alone winnng the game within the first quarter of the match is over. We won 3-0. That'll do me.
England's 12th Man If the England fans and the press want to help our England team turn defeats into draws, and draws into wins, we are going exactly the wrong way about it. England's 12th man is currently playing for the opposition, applying pressure all across the pitch, before and after the match aswell. The other international managers must love it playing against us.
Let's hope things change at the New Wembley Stadium - I won't be holding my breath though.