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Which players will be missed most at Euro 2008?
AC Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf has pulled out of the provisional Dutch squad for Euro 2008 after falling out with coach Marco van Basten.
That got me thinking about other top players who won’t be in Austria and Switzerland in June. Mark van Bommel said a while back he wouldn’t play for Holland under Van Basten but Ruud van Nistelrooy is back after patching things up with the coach.
Apart from the England players who will miss the tournament because they didn’t qualify, Raul is looking increasingly unlikely to get into Spain’s squad. It is doubtful that both Filippo Inzaghi and Alessandro Del Piero will make the cut for Italy.
Oliver Kahn meanwhile quit Germany after the 2006 World Cup. Is there anyone else you think we will miss at Euro 2008?
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I’ll personally miss Bernd Schneider who picked up an injury recently; especially as he will be too old for the World Cup in 2010.
There’s a big contrast between the last two European championships in terms of the big names. Heading into Euro 2004 the stars of the game, the ones who were in all those lavish footwear commercials, were Beckham, Figo, Zidane and Raul and none of them will be there this time. Funnily enough, they were all disappointing in the tournament itself, so maybe they won’t be missed that much.
Pavel Nedved, 35, is an interesting one. The rumour is he will come out of international retirement for the Czechs but he was supposed to be retiring full stop at the end of the season. He is talking with Juve.
I wont miss Figo at Euro 2008 as he really has lost everything he had. Injuries this season havent helped. He has quit the portugal side but wants another season at Inter.
I feel for Raul – he has been great this season…but Spain have never got close to winning things WITH him in the side…
One player we won’t have to be sorry about is Henrik Larsson, who has just been named in the Sweden squad. What a welcome shock!
and nedved has just signed on for another year at juve so it is likely he will come back into the Czech squad
There is no doubt that the player most missed at Euro 2008 will be Eduardo of Croatia. He was the leading goal scorer during qualifying (I think) and was the go to finisher on that team…Croatia will struggle to find goals without him.
england players — lampard terry
Nedved not coming. And Rosicky out for injury..
I agree that Eduardo will be most missed.. With him, I could have seen Croatia contending for the title.
Personally, I will be sorely missing all of the English players
Do I detect a faint note of sarcasm, Julien?
Maradona
i’d miss the likes of Zinedine Zidane, but looking forward to seeing the raw talent of Ronaldo, Cesc Fabregas, Van Persie if fit. There are a lot of talented players on show
I know he retired a few years ago, but it would be great to see Maldini back in the azzurri shirt for one last hurrah!
http://gentrystyle.com/2008/05/18/ciao-b ello-saying-farewell-to-paolo-maldini/#m ore-377