BEGOVIC BACKS CROUCH

Stoke city goalkeeper Asmir Begovic has said that his club teammate Peter Crouch should be recalled by the England national team ahead of the World Cup 2014. Crouch is one of the few strikers, who has an imperious record for the national team. He has scored a goal every other game, but it has not exactly endeared himself to the managers who have taken over the national team. He has been consistently overlooked in recent years, but the Stoke striker has not been concerned about the lack of a call up to the national team.

The arrival of Mark Hughes has the manager signalled a change in the era for Stoke. They were expected to play a much more attractive brand of football, which would even get the best out of Crouch since the tall striker is also adept at playing on the ground. Crouch has been one of the ever present players for Stoke this season. He have scored only seven goals in 29 league matches for the club, but his overall style of play helps the club sustain their position in the league.

The 33-year-old is coming to the end of his career, and if selected, the World Cup could be his last major tournament. He has 22 goals in 42 appearances for the national team.

“I can’t recommend Peter Crouch highly enough. I’ve played with him for a few years at Stoke, and before that at Portsmouth. He offers you something different. There are not many strikers like him around the world, it will be very difficult for defences to handle him. His goal record speaks for itself, especially at international level. He can make a big difference,” said Begovic, who himself has been linked with a move away from the club after a string of excellent performances.

UEFA MAKE THE DRAW

UEFA recently conducted the draw for the Euro 2016 qualifying stages. Russia, who recently were elated after qualifying for the World Cup 2014, have been drawn alongside top teams like Sweden and Montenegro. Fabio Capello has commented about the draw by saying that these are tough matches, but he expects Russia to qualify for the Euro 2016. The nation failed to appear at the Euro 2012 after doing very poorly in the qualification stages. The arrival of Capello has once again booster the national team, who have been looking as one of the favourites to reach the knockout stages of the World Cup.

Russia will be coming up against Sweden, who were the joint favourites to win the group. This is primarily due to the presence of PSG striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is regarded as the best in the world right now. Capello has stated that he is someone who knows most of the top group opponents. This is largely due to the managerial experience he has got from being the manager of England in his former role. Capello has come up against Montenegro, while Sweden are also a familiar opponent. The Italian, though, has stated that Austria is something of an unknown quantity since he has come up against those Europeans very little.

“The group is a tough one. We have Sweden who I know well and Montenegro who I know even better having come up against them with England. I don’t know much about Austria, but they’re all teams who came close to reaching the World Cup. I have respect for all our opponents and there will be lots of difficult matches. Sweden are a team that nobody wanted in their group. Now we have to play against a team with a player I know very well – Zlatan Ibrahimović,” said Capello.

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