The Sports Pages
There’s a ton of fallout from last night’s friendly international football matches, with the Irish Independent calling Ireland’s 1-0 defeat to Argentina in their inaugural tie at the Aviva Stadium ‘an opening night to forget’. In the British press, Fabio Capello is coming under fire by revealing in a TV interview that David Beckham may be ‘a little bit too old’ to get called up against for the English senior side, and that the former England skipper ‘will play one friendly to say bye bye’ (The Sun).
In transfer news, unsettled Manchester City midfielder Stephen Ireland is putting his move to Aston Villa, as part of a player-plus-cash swap for James Milner, on hold. Apparently Ireland is holding out for the slim possibility to play in the Champions League for Tottenham Hotspur (Daily Mirror).
In other Villa news, the Daily Mirror today reports of an ambitious triangle of moves, which would bring Fulham’s Mark Schwarzer to Arsenal, Arsenal’s Manuel Almunia to Villa Park, and Villa’s Brad Friedel to the Craven Cottage. Stranger things have happened.
Finally, Liverpool have been told they have no hope of singing West Ham’s Carlton Cole as a second striker unless they match the Hammer’s price tag of £20m for the striker (The Sun). The Anfield club have also been linked to two moves for Aston Villa stars Stephen Warnock and Stiliyan Petrov, as part of a £14m double swoop (Caught Offside).
