ENGLAND HOPE FOR MORE UNDER-AGE SUCCESS

England are set to continue the work that has brought them recent successes in age grade tournaments. The nation was excited when the Under-20 side won the World Youth Championship in June. The Under-19 side won the continental European championships and the Under-21 side reached the last four of the UEFA tournament.

The Under-17 side have been drawn into a group for the forthcoming FIFA U-17 World Cup in India in October. The England manger of that age grade Steve Cooper has reportedly reached the FA team and plans are underway to ensure the country continues to enjoy its new found momentum in age grade events.

Whilst some players have come through since the U-19s stormed to the Final a few years ago (most notably Ben Foster), the pathway to the top has sometimes been difficult for youngsters looking to make their mark. You can see Foster in action at The Hawthorns by getting tickets from this link but you wonder how many of the victorious U17 team will be playing at the top level in 10 years time.

The masterplan was initiated at the National Football Centre, St George Park back in 2012. The £105 million facility houses the 24 national teams, making it easy for consolidated efforts towards building competent feeder teams for the senior squad.

“It’s an inspiration and a motivation to everybody connected with English football. That’s not just the national teams because it’s great recognition for the clubs and academies in England that they’re doing a really good job in producing the players. We hope it’s the start of things to come,” a hopeful Cooper said.

Cooper added that St George’s Park close to Burton-upon-Trent has been “a massive help” as it brings everyone together. He added that the leadership of Dan Ashworth, Matt Crocker and Gareth Southgate I making everything tick.

In India, England would face Iraq, Mexico and Chile. Cooper says it is “a strong group” and that he expected it as it is the World Cup. He added that everyone was excited that India were hosting the event so the team was looking at enjoying their time there. Hopefully the Under-17 side can match the recent strides of other age grade English teams.

BROM OFFER FLETCHER NEW DEAL

English Premier League club West Bromwich Albion have agreed to offer Darren Fletcher a new deal, according to reports. Talks between both parties are expected to begin in a few weeks. Tony Pulis has had a decent start to the new campaign.

The management values the contribution of Fletcher, so would offer him an extension. The Albion wants to tie all the important players to the club on a long term basis.

Fletcher’s contract with West Brom demands that his deal be extended when he plays in a certain amount of Premier League games. The club is ready to offer the Scotland international a better package as the 32-year old has made an impact since joining on a free transfer from Man United last year.

The management values the contribution of Fletcher, so would offer him an extension. The Albion wants to tie all the important players to the club on a long term basis.

Fletcher has a real scare that threatened to end his career. He suffered from a chronic bowel disease called ulcerative colitis. He took a break from football in 2011, and was operated on in 2013. He made a full recovery, becoming a regular at West Brom last term.

Against all the football betting odds, he was named Player of the Year and this season he has begun all the league games under Pulis, impressing and giving gravitas and generally being a brilliant captain.

Alongside Fletcher, West Brom want to tie Northern Ireland international Jonny Evans to the club long term. Arsenal have signalled their interest in the player, but West Brom want him to remain.

“He got me in at West Brom and made me captain. He made me an important player around the place and I’d like to think my performances in return have been good to him. I hope the manager can show what a good manger he is with a good group of players and we can have a really good season that reflects his hard work and how good a manager he is,” Fletcher said.

FOSTER UNLIKELY TO MOVE TO CITY

West Bromwich Albion Goalkeeper Ben Foster is not likely to accept the move to Manchester City to fill the space of an English player as third choice goalie.

As Pep Guardiola takes charge at the Etihad, he is believed to be looking at a mass clear out of the team and a total restructuring. As most of the players are over thirty, the former coach at Barcelona and Bayern Munich is going to receive funds to do a total overhaul and set the team back to a title challenging one. With Guardiola taking over, Manchester City’s fortunes have already taken an upturn, with the latest StanJames football betting odds showing that they are now clear favourites for the Premer league title, even though they finished in fourth last season.

Ben Foster is the shot stopper at West Bromwich Albion and it is being speculated that he’ll be joining City in a big money move to give Joe Hart competition.

Guardiola is expected to land players like Ilkay Gundogan and Aymeric Laporte in the summer. Thiago Alcantara who has already played for Guardiola twice now is believed not to be too keen on the City move as he plans to fight for first team action at Bayern Munich under the incoming Carlo Ancelotti. Leroy Sane is still being associated with the move to Man City as well.

All the incoming players can’t be foreigners as English players too would be added to the team. Aaron Cresswell, Danny Rose and John Stones are the names that are likely to join The Sky Blues this summer.

City are sure that they want competition for Joe Hart, and the need for another keeper has been touted around all the top-level scouts for over 6 months. Aside Hart and Willy Caballero, another top goal stopper is needed at the club. With all the other incoming players being foreign, English goalies are considered, and any one of Ben Foster, Scott Carson or Chris Kirkland could be added to the team.

YACOB IMPRESSES AGAINST UNITED

Salomon Rondon might be the person who is being talked about the most and is being praised for striking that lone goal in the Baggies’ previous win over Manchester United, but, according to the coach Tony Pulis, the contribution of Claudio Yacob shouldn’t go unnoticed as he is also somebody who did great work for the team in the playmaking department.

It was after a long duration of three decades that West Bromwich Albion won against the Red Devils at home and according to Pulis, it was Yacob who laid the platform of that historical win with his solid game in the midfield.

In the words of Pulis, “Yacob’s contributions haven’t got that much of recognition, but, he has been very influential and a great individual to have in our change room.”

Pulis, however, might miss out on the services of Yacob for a few games if the Argentinean is shown another yellow card in the coming games as he is very close to reaching the yellow card limit. He’s had 9 yellow cards shown to him so far this season and one more yellow card would see him being ruled out for three matches, which would be a big concern for Pulis given that he is in such fine form.

However, he shouldn’t be too concerned as West Brom are now almost safe from demotion and they can probably scrape by without the presence of Yacob – the 28-year old is likely to draw another yellow card with him for the kind of tackler he is.

In the view of Pulis, once West Brom takes its tally to 40, it would be a safe position. West Brom are currently ahead of some of the stronger teams like Everton, at no. 11, which is higher than they usually finish on the StanJames virtual football games, where they typically finish towards the bottom of the pack!

BROM WIN 3 POINTS

West Brom collected three important points in the race for survival, but that too came against fellow relegation threatened team Norwich city away from home. Hence, this was effectively six points for the club, which could see them safely remain in the Premier league for next season. The appointment of Pepe Mel at the start of the second half of the campaign was left with several doubts from the supporters and pundits, as the former Real Betis manager was unable to get wins under his belt. He did achieve credible draws against the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea at home.

However, they have been starting to pick up wins of late and the latest one could not have come in a more significant match according to goalkeeper Ben Foster. The former Manchester United man says that he is not only happy to keep the clean sheet, but the three points against the club gives them a lot of confidence that they can avoid relegation this season. The win moves West Brom one place above the drop zone and they are five points above Fulham, who occupy the 18th place. A late equaliser from Cardiff denied West Brom three points last weekend, but they were happy to hold onto this win.

“It was a monster win for us today. We’ve got seven games left and we have a couple of tough ones in there, we’ve got to play City, Tottenham and Arsenal as well. The teams around us we’re playing it’s important to pick up three points. We started today, it was a fantastic response from the lads after last week and we’re really, really happy. I have to say a massive well done to the management staff really,” said the goalkeeper, who is on the fringes of appearing for the England national team once again.

MEL RELIEVED

West Brom boss Pepe Mel breathed a huge sigh of relief after his team managed to a 2-1 win over Swansea City during the weekend. It was the first win he has achieved as the West Brom manager. This has helped him cool down the talk of being sacked after just weeks after being appointed in the role. He was brought in as a replacement for Steve Clark, but the much expected upturn of results did not come immediately. West Brom did look excellent in the 1-1 draw with title chasing Chelsea and Liverpool at home, but they have also suffered defeats as well.

Mel, however, was patient with his team and he made a couple of significant changes for the match against Swansea. This included the inclusion of Stephane Sessegnon, who was influential in the match, amongst many others. After the match, he said that the players must build on this immense victory, which has given them a breathing space with nine matches left in the campaign. They are three points above the relegation zone, but with all the relegation threatened teams picking up points, the effect of this victory has been subdued.

Goalkeeper Ben Foster spoke about the need to maintain stability at the club, as he has called for Mel to be kept in the job.
“Another sacking is probably the last thing we need. There has been a lot of goings on, a lot said in the media, and the (Nicolas) Anelka thing. You don’t pay too much attention to it. We are very happy for the club and Pepe needed that as well. It means a lot to him, it really does,” said Foster. Stephane Sessegnon was on the scoresheet for West Brom, while Youssouf Mulumbu scored the other goal in this remarkable away win.

Foster Penalized For His Protests

Chris Foy has penalized Ben Foster for his protests against a decision of a fair challenge on Marouane Chamakh in the match between West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace where the Eagles managed to seal a 3-1 win. The number one of the Baggies said that their performance was not up to the mark which is why the defeat came but insists that it is one win which would help them be on track again.

The Baggies has not been in the best of form this season and has managed to win only one game in their last 15 league games. Post match Foster was asked about the performance of his team to which he said that they could not get into a good position but came close to scoring twice but the lads could not get the finishing touch.

This is something which the team has to work upon and the manager and the full team is already working on it. West Brom is close to getting relegated this season and if they do not manage to pull off a few victories then they would be slipping down the table more and more.

Foster was really happy with the team’s performance against Liverpool and hopes that they would be able to come up the relegation zone by the end of the season. He also went on to say that the Barclays Premiere League is really funny and he knows what a couple of wins can do to a team’s confidence.

Meanwhile Foster was really annoyed about the penalty decision of Chris Foy and said that it was an absolutely rubbish decision. In the interview he also said that it was a fair challenge and the penalty decision was wrong. He advised people to see the replay and check whether it was a penalty or not.

ENGLAND CALL

Ben Foster is expecting to find a place in England’s World Cup squad, but, he believes that it’s not him who will be the first choice for the boss Roy Hodgson during the tournament which will be played in Brazil.

Foster reckons that Joe Hart who plays for Manchester City will be the first in the pecking order and will play most of the matches.

Hart has performed fantastically well for City in their recent games. He was actually out of favour in the earlier parts of the ongoing season, but, towards the end of the last year, he managed to get himself back into the starting line up of the Sky Blues and since then, his performances have been really appreciable.

Foster reckons that Joe Hart who plays for Manchester City will be the first in the pecking order and will play most of the matches.

Foster himself has not played poorly either for his club West Bromwich Albion, but, Hart has been in better form than him quite clearly and he knows that.

In one of his interviews yesterday, the 30 years old veteran had no hesitation whatsoever in admitting that Hart’s form has been outstanding.

Foster said, “Like any other player, I also want to play regularly. I get bored while sitting out, but, it’s not easy to compete with somebody like Joe Hart. He had a tough time at the start of the season, but, he has made a brilliant comeback. It’s nice to see him playing this way.”

“He is an obvious candidate to be picked in the starting XI in the World Cup. Let’s be honest.”

Hart is about 4 years younger than Foster, but, he is far more experienced than him as far as the international football is concerned.

Compared to Foster’s 6, he has made 38 appearances for the senior team of Three Lions till this point of time.

NEEDING GAMES

Former Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster has been unable to get regular game time at his current club West Brom due to the form of Boaz Myhill.

The former Hull City goalkeeper has been able to keep the England international out of the first-team reckoning. Foster lost his place after suffering a stress fracture in one of his bones. He has been out for the last few months, but he only recently returned to training. His return has started speculation that Myhill may be dropped to the bench, but the current number one has other ideas.

Former Manchester United goalkeeper Ben Foster has been unable to get regular game time at his current club West Brom due to the form of Boaz Myhill.

After a tough start to the season, West Brom have been experiencing good form of late. This is likely to help them finish in the top half of the table, according to Soccer Blog. Boaz Myhill has been instrumental in this good form, as he has been able to make several saves against top teams like Chelsea and Manchester United. West Brom will be taking on archrivals Aston Villa in the Midlands derby on Monday.

“Ben has proved himself to be a top keeper all the time he’s been here and I have no illusions – I’ll be up against it. Your best is always good enough as a player, and if the manager chooses Ben that’s his decision. I just want to do as well as I can while he’s not fit. You’d have to ask the manager that, I don’t pick the team,” said the goalkeeper ahead of the match.
Ahead of the match, he said that the return of Foster certainly provides immense threat to his runout in the first-team, but he is hoping to retain his place by ensuring that he deserves it more than the former United man. West Brom come into the match on the back of a 2-2 draw with Chelsea before the international break.

FOSTER RULED OUT

The 30 years old shot-stopper Ben Foster has been struggling with a broken foot that has left him not able to play for either his country or West Bromwich Albion as he picked up the injury in August and it’s been over 3 months that he has gotten back to the pitch due to his lengthy injury recovery.

Even though he has not played in quite some time and his recovery has not been completed, he is still excited about the chance of being in the England squad for the 2014 World Cup.

“The chance of being in the England squad and going to a World Cup in Brazil next summer is really exciting,” said Foster, speaking to the Daily Telegraph.

Even though he has not played in quite some time and his recovery has not been completed, he is still excited about the chance of being in the England squad for the 2014 World Cup.

“The chance of being in the England squad and going to a World Cup in Brazil next summer is really exciting,” said Foster, speaking to the Daily Telegraph.

“When the lads qualified last month, it was a great feeling, but I really can’t let myself think about any of that at the moment. My foot needs to heal, I need to play and then we can think about England.”

England secured their spot in the upcoming World Cup by finishing at the top of Group H and are now waiting for the draw to be done as long as the other nations.

Foster also went on talking about the recent downfall that Joe Hart is going through in Manchester City.

“He is one of the best goalkeepers I’ve ever played and trained with, he’s just had a bit of a bad run.If I was his manager, I’d just put a big arm around him, tell him to go on holiday for a couple of weeks, clear his head, relax and then come back in the team and carry on doing what he’s been doing for the last few years’’. Foster said.
“Class is permanent and Joe is top class.”

The Romanian goalkeeper Costel Pantilmon is being a preferred option for Manuel Pellegrini as he has been featured in 5 of the last 6 matches for the Premier League club.