The Hindu : Sport / Football : No Beckham, no Zidane as European soccer resumes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 16, 2006

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Sport - Football

No Beckham, no Zidane as European soccer resumes

LONDON : There'll be no David Beckham, no Zinedine Zidane and no Fabio Cannavaro when international soccer resumes barely five weeks after the end of the World Cup.

Beckham was dropped from England's team as new coach Steve McClaren looks to the future. Zidane retired from soccer after France lost to Italy in the World Cup final. And Italy captain Cannavaro is getting a bit more rest.

Three games on Wednesday mark the start of qualifying for the 2008 European Championship, co-hosted by Austria and Switzerland.

The games, however, are low-profile — Belgium vs. Kazakhstan, the Faeroe Islands vs. Georgia and Estonia vs. Macedonia.

Instead, most of Europe's top teams are playing friendly games to prepare for Euro 2008 qualifying next month.

About two dozen friendlies are set for midweek around Europe, with an equal number of games in Asia and South America also on tap.

Eliminated by France in the second round of the World Cup, Spain goes to Iceland with its World Cup team nearly unchanged.

``As we are still in preseason, I have picked the same players I took to the World Cup because I have the same confidence in them that I had earlier in the summer,'' coach Luis Aragones said.

Despite a poor World Cup, striker Raul Gonzalez hopes to make his 100th appearance for Spain. With Zidane retired, France made midfielder Patrick Vieira captain. — AP

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