Colo and Jonas called up for Argentina.

Posted on August 6th, 2010 | 15 Comments |

Call-ups for Colo and Jonas.
Call-ups for Colo and Jonas.
Argentinian pair Fabricio Coloccini and Jonas Gutierrez have been called to the Argentina squad for their forthcoming friendly fixture against the Republic of Ireland next week.

Fair play to them and all that, particularly to Colo who missed out on the World Cup, but what a silly time to play an international friendly.

I’m talking in general now, not just because it affects some of our players, but whoever decided that playing meaningless international friendlies a few days before the domestic season is about to start needs their head looking at. Or on the flipside, the Premier League, who knew that this next week was an international week yet still decided to plan the start of the season a few days later, should take a long hard look at themselves.

As I said, it is not just a problem for us, many clubs could suffer at the hands of this. Imagine if Colo or Jonas sustained an unfortunate injury that ruled them out for a lenghtly period? What about if one of the leagues golden boys, like a Wayne Rooney or a Steven Gerarrd for example, suffered a serious injury? How would that help the Premier League?

Now I’m not averse to international football, in fact I think it gives squads like ours a chance to rest and recuperate a little given the fact we don’t have as many international players as we once had. But the dates that these friendly games fall on are more than a little confusing.

The bigger leagues like Spain and Germany start a bit later than ours which means rather than being a pointless friendly, the players can actually use this game as part of their pre-season preparations. In England, players don’t have that choice, and on the back of a major tournament you really have to wonder why the league start date hasn’t been adjusted.

I can imagine now how the FA had planned it – Another money making exercise to celebrate England and their triumphant run to the semi-final or whatever, but that didn’t happen, and now players and managers are questioning the wisdom of the move.

Fair play to Colo, Jonas, or any other of our players who get called up for their country. I just hope they come back all in one piece!

Rant over!

NUFCBlog Author: toonsy toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.

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15 Responses

  1. Hey Hey.
    It’s going to be the 2nd game in the Aviva Stadium, our new state of the art Colosseum :D

    Think I’ll take a trip up to it :)

  2. Doocey – When you going to come on over and write for the dark side (this place, just to avoid confusion) :lol: :D

  3. It is a terrible time for friendly. We (USA) face a brazilian youngster squad but for some reason saw fit to call in our entire Prem league contingent. Couldn’t care less about the match. It’s club season now…

  4. ILM he’s been a knob all his career.One thing I do agree with him though is that no one will ever believe him. when he says he innocent.

  5. got my tickets today for the game so i cant wait to see the two of them if they get a run out!

  6. Jus finkin with them internationals next week its gonna make it even harder to sign players

  7. DAVY dont think that will have much to do with it m8,seems its the agents that carry the power now like

  8. ILM @ 4, heard his interview on 5live & saw his interview on sky (with the picture of his kids hung on the wall right behind him). Just looks like a cynical attempt to get a club, fair enough if wins his appeal but he was convicted on fairly compelling evidence. But hey,that was only his 14th conviction so I’m sure some mug will sign him, makes our very own joey look like a bloody saint.

  9. I hate agreeing with second hand car salesman ‘Arry but what the hell are they playing international friendlies at this time of year.

    It is still good PR for your club if players are getting caps. makes any future potential signings a bit easier if players think they will get caps

  10. hello?

    Anyone watching the Villa match? that youngun they’ve got certainly looks promising, and it looks like they’re giving their right back a debut