Ashley Williams seeking to shed pain for Euro 2012 pleasure

ASHLEY WILLIAMS is ready to put pain to one side in a desperate attempt to bring Wales some sort of joy in 2010.

Wales captain Williams looked a major doubt to even make the plane to Basel after suffering an ankle injury in the closing stages of the demoralising 1-0 home defeat to Bulgaria on Friday.

But after scans confirmed no serious damage, Williams declared his intention to caretaker-manager Brian Flynn of leading the side out here in Switzerland, clearly more concerned with the hurt felt on Friday night than the one in his ankle.

Williams conceded he has rarely felt as down as he did after the defeat that all but ended hopes of qualifying for the Euro 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine.

 But the mood has been consistent with the majority of the year for Wales, a solitary friendly win over Luxembourg the one success out of the five games to date.

Injuries or not – and there are plenty right now for Wales on top of suspensions and other various withdrawals – Williams does not want the disappointment to carry on.

“It was hurting and really sore on Saturday morning,” the 26-year-old Swansea City man said of his ankle.

“I had to go for an X-ray and it didn’t look good.

“We’ve suffered a bit with injuries and I guess you can’t help it.

“It happens and if you can’t play you can’t play. I’m sure everyone would if they could.

“All I know is that I gave it everything to make sure I can be there because I’m desperate to play.

“I don’t want to go away from this game feeling like I did on Saturday morning.

“That’s what really hurt and it’s down there with the lowest points of my career.

“We had been really confident about things going into the Bulgaria game, looking forward to it and full of belief.

“Then to have such a disappointing performance and result after that it just made it all worse.

“But we have a chance now to lift everything because we want to go on with points on the board, and with a lot more confidence than perhaps we do right now.

“If we had gone home after the game we would have all been quite down and had it playing on our minds for a long time.

“Now there is an opportunity to take three points and put everything else behind us.”

Williams’ expected availability – bar a breakdown during this morning’s light training – means Flynn has been at least saved from any further losses to an already dangerously depleted squad, as many as 16 players unavailable for the game at St Jakob’s Park.

But it looks as though Williams will be given some relief and move back into his much-preferred centre-back position after struggling in central midfield against the Bulgarians.

Although he has admitted himself his performance was poor, some of the criticism that has come his way has been unfair given his natural role is at the back with the game in front of him.

Williams said: “I’m a defender and a centre-back – but I will play where I’m asked,” said the 23-times capped Williams.

“And wherever that is I’ll do it to the best of my ability.

“I certainly haven’t said to the manager I want to play in a certain position.

“I’ll just play where I’m asked.

“It’s for others to voice their opinions about it. I’m a defender by trade so centre-half is always going to be my choice.

“But I’ll play wherever the team needs me.”


Kranjcar: Rooney to blame for malaise

Montenegro manager Zlatko Kranjcar has said ahead of his side's clash with England at Wembley that Wayne Rooney's recent poor form is of his own making.

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Rooney has scored only once for Manchester United this season with fitness issues and revelations about his private life taking their toll on the striker.

He did score in his last outing for England though - a 3-1 win over Switzerland in September - and Kranjcar expects Rooney to use Tuesday's Euro 2012 qualifier to rebuild his confidence.

"I am sure it is very difficult for Rooney - but he got himself into this situation," Kranjcar said. "He has big difficulties handling it psychologically. There is a lot of pressure on the player, so he is in a very difficult situation right now.

"I believe the chance to play tomorrow will help his self-confidence and restore his game. "One thing is for sure, England are definitely a better side with Wayne Rooney than they are without him."

England manager Fabio Capello certainly has no fears about Rooney, who was initially a doubt for Tuesday's game due to an akle problem.

"I spoke with Sir Alex (Ferguson) who told me, when I decided the squad, that Rooney would be fit because the ankle problem was not so big," Capello said. "I spoke with Rooney about the situation, his situation. I monitored him during the training and he trained perfectly, really well.

"I think it's important to monitor the players in training. You can understand a lot of things from that. He's focused on the game. He's happy. He's smiling a lot. He's in a good moment, better than he was when we played against Switzerland."

Montenegro may only have a population of 350,000 but the country have made a stunning start to their qualification campaign, a win over Switzerland on Friday taking them top of Group G with nine points from three games.

England, who have played a game less, will draw level at the top of the table with a victory at Wembley on Tuesday and Kranjcar knows his side will struggle to maintain their recent form, even against an England team missing a range of players due to injury.

"If we could get a positive result against England, it would be a great thing for the whole nation," he said. "But you could say that about every country that plays here.

"After three wins at the start of this group, we can be quietly confident things can continue to go well for us. We are aware that the England team is very strong but we go into the game without any fear and are determined to show what we are capable of and get a result we are happy with.

"England do have some injury problems but it doesn't matter who is on the field for them, it will still be difficult for us. However, it is our intention to make a good impression at one of the temples of football."



TEAM NEWS: Giampaolo Pazzini and Antonio Cassano start for Italy in Euro 2012 qualifier against Serbia


Italy coach Cesare Prandelli has announced he will be making four changes to the Azzurri line-up when they take on Serbia in a Euro 2012 qualifier on Tuesday evening.

Prandelli will switch from a 4-3-3 system to a 4-4-2 formation, led by Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini. Daniele De Rossi and Simone Pepe will both miss the encounter.

"I have to be honest and admit that I did think about using two centre-forwards with Antonio Cassano behind them,” Prandelli told a pre-match press conference. "But without De Rossi I had to change my plans.

"I don't have a clone for him so I had to change shape.

The Sampdoria duo will lead the Azzurri strike force, as Prandelli highlighted Pazzini as a potentially key player.

"I chose Pazzini because he has the right movements to face Serbia," the coach stated.

"I also expect more from Cassano, as well as everyone else and that includes me. This is his stadium and I’m sure the fans will push us on."

Emiliano Viviano will start between the posts once again while Gianluca Zambrotta, Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci and Domenico Criscito will make up the back four.

Stefano Mauri, Andrea Pirlo, Angelo Palombo and Claudio Marchisio will start in midfield for the Azzurri, and Prandelli knows that whoever wins this match will have an excellent chance of securing a spot for the tournament in Ukraine and Poland.

"Whoever wins out of us will take three points, but they will also take a great advantage in the qualification race," added Prandelli. "We will also need to pay attention to [Milos] Krasic. He has great dribbling skills and can ease past players.

"Serbia have individuals who can win games by themselves, they also have great personality and pride. But we too have our strengths," he concluded.


Germany lose Jerome Boateng for Kazakhstan clash

Manchester City and Germany defender Jerome Boateng will miss Tuesday's Euro 2012 qualifier against Kazakhstan due to a bout of flu.

Boateng, 22, was an unused substitute in Friday's 3-0 victory over Turkey that saw Germany secure a third win in three qualifying games.

However, the versatile defender will not be available for coach Joachim Low after being laid low by the virus.

Germany are also awaiting news on whether playmaker Mesut Ozil will be available for the tie in Astana.

The Real Madrid star sustained an ankle injury in the victory over Turkey.

UEFA Euro 2012

The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2012, will be the 14th European Championship for national football teams sanctioned by UEFA. The final tournament will be hosted by Poland and Ukraine between 8 June and 1 July 2012.
The joint Poland/Ukraine bid was chosen by UEFA's Executive Committee on 18 April 2007, in Cardiff, Wales.[1] This bid defeated the other shortlisted bids from Italy and Croatia/Hungary, becoming the third successful joint bid for the European Championship, after those of Belgium/Netherlands (2000) and Austria/Switzerland (2008).

This will be the last European Championship finals in which only 16 nations will participate, with Euro 2016 being the first European Championship finals with 24 competing nations. Qualification will be contested by 51 nations between August 2010 and November 2011 to join the two host nations in the finals.








Host selection

Bid process

The organisation of the event was initially contested by five bids representing seven countries: Croatia/Hungary (joint bid), Greece, Italy, Poland/Ukraine (joint bid), and Turkey.
On 8 November 2005, UEFA's Executive Committee whittled the candidates down to a short list of three:

On 31 May 2006 all three bids completed the second phase of the process by submitting more detailed dossiers, before UEFA conducted site visits to candidate countries in September.The final decision was due to be announced on 8 December 2006 in Nyon but this was postponed to "give bidding associations more time for the fine-tuning of their bids".
The hosts were eventually chosen on 18 April 2007 in Cardiff, Wales by a vote of the members of the UEFA Executive Committee. Owing to their affiliation with associations bidding to host the competition, two of its 14 members were not permitted to vote.In the first of potentially two rounds of voting, each member had one vote (a total of 12 votes were therefore cast).
The Poland/Ukraine bid received an absolute majority of 8 votes, and was therefore announced the winner without requiring a second round. Italy received the remaining four votes, while the Croatia/Hungary bid failed to win a single vote.

Other candidates

Croatia and Hungary

Hungary was bidding for the third time consecutively after failing to win either the Euro 2004 or the Euro 2008 bid. It teamed up with Croatia after its previous partner, Austria, opted to unite with Switzerland to (successfully) bid to host Euro 2008. Neither of the two countries had ever hosted similar major tournaments.
The following cities were proposed by the Hungarian Football Federation and the Croatian Football Federation:
Croatia: Osijek, Rijeka, Split, Zagreb
Hungary: Budapest, Debrecen, Győr, Székesfehérvár


Italy

Italy was the most experienced of all the bidding nations, having already twice hosted the European Championship (in 1968 and 1980), and the FIFA World Cup (in 1934 and 1990). Although it topped the initial vote in 2005, the 2006 Serie A scandal and the football-related violence in Catania, which led to the death of police officer Filippo Raciti and revealed safety deficiencies in many stadia, may have damaged its standing.
The following venues were proposed by the Italian Football Federation:

Background

Readiness concerns

In January 2008, UEFA president Michel Platini went on the record to warn the organisers of the need to avoid "critical slippages" in their preparations,[8] prompting Scotland to reportedly inform UEFA that they would be willing to step in as hosts,[9] which they reiterated again later in the year.[10] However, by June 2008, UEFA stated they were "not discussing any plan B in terms of new countries" hosting.

Nonetheless, Ukraine reported several problems which threatened their co-hosting: delays in the renovation of Kiev’s Olympic Stadium, and difficulties funding infrastructure work after the economic crisis struck. After an inspection in April 2009, Platini re-affirmed that Ukraine would remain co-host but hinted that most matches could go to Poland.[14] The Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated his country would be capable of this task, but was committed to the original 4 + 4 host city plan,as was the Polish FA.

Poland's one major incident occurred in late September 2008, when its government suspended the PZPN (Polish FA) over corruption issues and assigned an administrator. UEFA swiftly issued a letter warning that it risked losing the right to co-host, which resulted in the government yielding.Preparation work proceeded more speedily than in Ukraine and, following a visit in April 2009, Platini announced that all was on track and he saw no major problems.The following month, UEFA confirmed the appointment of the Polish cities of Warsaw, Poznań, Wrocław and Gdańsk.At the same meeting, a appeal for delayed decision on the Ukrainian venues was granted to Lviv, Donetsk and Kharkiv in order to meet specific conditions regarding infrastructure, with a warning that only Kiev and the best prepared city of the other candidates would otherwise be used if issues were not resolved by the end of November.

In September 2009 Platini announced that "Ukraine has made sudden progress in their efforts to stage the tournament",and it was soon confirmed that their four cities (Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kiev and Lviv) would host matches. Kiev was also confirmed to host the Final.

However, an interview Platini gave to the German FA in May 2010, suggesting that Germany and Hungary could even replace Ukraine unless improvements were made, cast new doubt on their readiness. But by August, Platini seconded that and stated "You can consider that the ultimatum no longer exists",and that he was optimistic about preparations in both countries and saw no major obstacles.

Venues

Apart from Donetsk and Kharkiv, the host cities are all popular tourist destinations. The bid plans the expansion and modernisation of roads and highways.The obligatory improvement of the football infrastructure includes the building of new stadiums: Six of the eight venues are brand new stadia currently being constructed ready to open in advance of the tournament; the remaining two (in Poznań and Kharkiv) have undergone major renovation work to improve them.Three of the stadia will fulfill the criteria of UEFA's highest category stadiums.

Former candidates

The following venues were also considered but fell out of the running as a result of the UEFA meeting on 13 May 2009.

Participation

Euro 2012 will feature 16 national teams, as has been the format since 1996. Many European football associations were in favour of expanding the tournament to 24 teams due to the much-increased number of UEFA members in recent years (53 in April 2006 compared to 33 before the break up of the Soviet Union and of Yugoslavia).However, on 17 April 2007, UEFA's Executive Committee formally decided against an expansion for 2012. A later vote in September 2008 decided that the European Championship will indeed be expanded to 24 teams beginning with Euro 2016.

Qualification

The draw for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying round took place in Warsaw on 7 February 2010.[38] This was the first time the new UEFA national team coefficient was used for seeding the teams. The qualifying draw determined the makeup of nine groups. Nine groups were formed in the qualifying draw including six sections of six sides and three of five, as 51 teams chase 14 finals places alongside co-hosts Poland and Ukraine. The seeding pots are formed on the basis of the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system, finalised after the completion of FIFA World Cup qualifying, with the reigning European champions automatically top seeded. All groups contained one nation from the first five pots and six sections also included a team from Pot 6.


Qualified teams

Matches

Group Stage

Miscellany

Logo and slogan

The official logo for the competition was unveiled at a special event at Mykhailivska Square, Kiev, on 14 December 2009. It takes its visual identity from Wycinanki, the traditional art of paper cutting practised in Poland and rural areas of Ukraine. The art form symbolises the nature of the rural areas of Poland and Ukraine.[39][40] As part of the event, landmark buildings in the eight host cities were illuminated with the tournament logo.[41] The competition slogan, "Creating History Together" (Polish: Razem tworzymy przyszłość, Ukrainian: Творимо історію разом / Tvorymo istoriyu razom), was announced along with the logo. The slogan reflects the fact that Poland and Ukraine represent the easternmost host nations in European Championship history.


Tickets

Tickets for the tournament will be on sale from Spring 2011. Individual match tickets will be offered as well as team series for each of the 16 participating sides. It is already possible to register an e-mail address to be informed about the start of the ticket sales.