Paper Round: The excuse to top all excuses

Eurosport - Fri, 16 Oct 08:55:00 2009

World Cup squad revealed, war at Portsmouth and a party in Honduras. It's all in Friday's Paper Round.

FOOTBALL Wilson Palacios, Tottenham Hotspur 2009 - 0

Huge breaking news on the back pages of The Sun, Daily Express and Daily Mail: David Beckham HAS played his way into England's World Cup squad, as has Peter Crouch. It must be a pretty slow news day in Wapping when the back-page lead is about two players who have featured pretty regularly in Fabio Capello's squads securing their place on the plane to South Africa. It probably will turn out to be true, given both have featured regularly in qualifying squads, but it wouldn't have needed Mystic Meg to gaze into her crystal ball to come up with it.

War has broken out at Fratton Park, claims The Sun, as they say new owner Ali Al-Faraj has been angered by an interview given by chairman Sulaiman Al-Fahim in which he questioned the club's recent recruitment drive.

Cesc Fabregas may be on the radar of Barcelona and Real Madrid, but he is saying the right things with regard to leading Arsenal to glory. "I want to win it (the Premier League) even more now than I did when I arrived," the Spaniard told The Sun.

So will England win the World Cup? I'm in the leaning towards the no camp, but those patriotic readers of The Sun believe it will happen. 72 per cent of a Sun poll are backing Fabio to lead England to glory.

Harry Redknapp could be in for a frosty reception when he takes his Tottenham side back to Portsmouth at the weekend. His pals have been saying he does not deserve any criticism and the man himself has been making positive noises in recent days and he fires a final salvo in his column in The Sun on Thursday. "My grandson sleeps in a Pompey kit every night. He refuses to take it off." That will heal those wounds.

The back page of the Star focuses on Robinho's future at Manchester City. The currently injured Brazilian gave an interview to a Spanish newspaper on Thursday saying he would love to play for Barcelona. The Star have seized on the quotes with a back-page splash and by suggesting a swap deal with Thierry Henry could be in the offing, pass it off as their own 'exclusive'.

Diego Maradona is never far from controversy and after leading Argentina to the World Cup qualification, launched a tirade on his critics. A succession of beeps made it difficult to work out what he said, but the boys at the Star have come up with the goods: "To those who did not believe, with apologies to ladies present, they can suck my **** and keep on sucking," he said.

As excuses go for missing a game, Wilson Palacios has moved to the top of the tree. The Mirror claims he will miss Tottenham's clash with Portsmouth after being ordered to stay and party in Honduras by the country's military junta to celebrate their qualification for the World Cup.

The Mail caught up with Andrew Cole and among other things, the Premier League's second highest scorer revealed he has an offer from Sir Alex Ferguson to take up some coaching duties at Manchester Unuited.

Eurosport

Comment 1 - 6 of 6

Sort comments by: Most recent | Most rated

  1. its a silly reason to miss a match but its not his­ choice if this is right. it is only 1 game and its not­ against a great team really is it. it will give him­ mmore time between matches which could be good for him­ anyway

    From yip, on Fri 16 Oct 1:15PM

  2. 'Andrew Cole', He wasnt insisting on being­ called that when he released that rap record. He was­ & still is; an idiot.

    From KarlB, on Fri 16 Oct 11:47AM

  3. Mmambles, you are talking a load of­ tosh!

    "you'd think that Wilson would show a­ little more­ loyalty after Spurs showed such compassion­ when he­ tragically lost his brother."

    As if he­ didn't show his loyalty by only deciding a few­ hours before a match that he should actually go hometo­ his grieving family than play a football match later­ that day. While it may be annoying that he misses a­ match, his loyalty or dedication to Spurs should not be­ in doubt.

    And before you go thinking I'm some kind­ of ardent THFC fan, I'm not. In fact I quite­ actively dislike the club, but have put that aside in­ favour of objectivity!

    From obz007, on Fri 16 Oct 11:36AM

  4. to mambles, maybe you are not aware of this but a club,­ can not stop a player from attending international­ games, because if they do they will be fined and the­ player suspended any way....look it up its in the fifa­ rule book,

    As for stating, the obvious, any one or­ club who does not show any compassion when a player has­ lost a family member.....does not deserve to win­ anything......oh snap( gee whiz).....why should we­ expecet any thing more or less from a SPURS FAN.....as­ always just class less, taste less and horrible.

    From robert.ikezue, on Fri 16 Oct 10:25AM
  5. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Yet another reason why club should always come before­ country.
    If I were Harry, and Wilson Palacios­ didn't get back for the weekend match against­ Portsmouth, I'd refuse to release him again for­ international duty. If these reports are correct,­ you'd think that Wilson would show a little more­ loyalty after Spurs showed such compassion when he­ tragically lost his brother.

    From mambles, on Fri 16 Oct 9:54AM

  6. I guess the Paper Round had nothing else to talk about­ either. That was a waste of my time.

    From Samuel, on Fri 16 Oct 9:14AM
Sort comments by: Most recent | Most rated

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account