The Manchester City star has had another action-packed season, causing headlines both on and off the pitch.

Prandelli left the striker out of his squad earlier in the year, due to Balotelli’s domestic disciplinary problems, with many believing the head coach would not want to risk taking the striker to this summer’s Euros.

It appears Prandelli is of a different mindset, admitting that he sees Balotelli being a big part of the Italians’ plans in Poland and Ukraine.

“I never really thought of doing this without Balotelli, as he is a focal point of the national team”, Prandelli said. “Have I made peace with Balotelli? Yes, although, to be honest, we never argued in the first place.”

“I was pleased that he took responsibility with his statements, after the latest incident at Manchester City. I like those who stand up and accept responsibility for their actions.”

Having a player with Balotelli’s quality will be important for Italy, this summer, where something special from the striker could have a massive impact on the team’s chances in Group C. Italy will compete with Spain, Croatia, and Ireland in the early stages of the European Championship.

Balotelli may come with a lot of baggage and risk, but the fact remains that he is capable of turning matches on their head with one moment of brilliance. Having a player capable of producing such moments is essential to any team looking to claim the title. Balotelli could once again be the main story this summer.

Brush up on your knowledge of international football ahead of Euro 2012 at http://betting.betfair.com/football/euro-2012/.

“Jack has probably missed six months with hamstring injuries, so we have to get him working on whatever work programme they recommend him to do.” He added.

Rodwell had played the final two games of Fabio Capello’s time in charge. If he wasn’t selected for the trip to Poland and Ukraine the Everton youngster was in line to play in Great Britain Olympic Games team, however after this latest injury it is unlikely he will feature in either.

The midfielder has played just five times in five months, something which obviously concerns Everton as they plan to send him German specialist Hans Muller-Wohlfahrt.

The Everton boss said: “He trained Saturday morning and felt his hamstring again. He had a scan. It’s a grade one [tear] which is small. We are trying to send him to Germany for treatment.

Moyes then added: “Dr Muller-Wohlfahrt is away this week and because he is the Bayern Munich doctor, he has a very big week next week because of their Champions League semi-final. So trying to get hold of him will be the hardest thing, certainly in the short term.”

Rodwell will obviously be unavailable for Everton’s FA Cup semi-final on Saturday against Liverpool. The Toffees are in a great run of form and will be looking to that into the game at Wembley.

Separate nations

The Welsh, Scottish and Irish football associations are worried that Team GB will affect how they are seen by FIFA. With the English FA taking in the lead in the formation of Team GB’s football squad, the other home nations are worried this will affect their independence in FIFA organised tournaments, such as the World Cup and the 2012 Euros. In a joint statement, released in June last year, they explained this that stance was “principally to protect the identity of each national association”.

The FA claims that an ‘historic agreement’ was made to allow players from each team to play. However the joint statement said that no such agreement had taken place.

Obviously this has had an implication for players. Wales captain Aaron Ramsay publicly stated on Twitter last year: “Relax everyone, there is no way I would play if it was going to affect Wales’s identity as an individual nation!” in an attempt to reassure fans.

Age limit

As the 2012 Euros also take place this summer, FIFA planned to exclude all players over the age of 21 from competing in the Olympics. This way, they hoped to avoid clashes between the two major tournaments.

The International Olympic Committee was against this restriction and set the upper age limit at 23. The committee has allowed each team to field up to three ‘over age’ players. This means that while many of Britain’s footballing legends will be excluded, some stars, such as David Beckham, who has stated that he’d love to captain the nation, might be able to represent Great Britain in the Games.

What do the fans think?

With all of the politics surrounding this event, it’s easy to overlook what the fans think about the British team. Some Welsh, Scottish and Irish fans are as against Team GB as their football association. Fansite NoTeamGB.com was set up in opposition of the Olympic team. It has released an array of anti-Olympic press releases. These fans feel that “such a move toward a joint team could severely jeopardise the independent status of the four Home Associations. All four associations have a proud tradition of very long standing which fans

from the four countries wish to retain and any move toward a joint team is seen a major threat to this status.”

Prominent Sky broadcaster Jeff Stelling is also set against the event. He told the Independent that an Olympic football was ‘nonsensical’ and believes the Games should stick to track and field events.

It’s not all bad news

While this is going on behind the scenes, players such as David Beckham are getting behind the event. Beckham has already mentioned that he would be ‘honoured’ to be asked to play as an ‘over-ager’. Wales and Tottenham star Gareth Bale has also given team GB his support, posing for a photo shoot in the official kit.

If it’s alright for them

Football isn’t the only sport to consider the implications of mixing up home nations teams. Other sports have done it successfully. Rugby is probably the best example of this with the British Lions taking part in international tours regularly. The Lions often play rugby powerhouses such as South Africa and New Zealand, while the home nations are kept separate for tournaments such as the World Cup and Six Nations.

Cricket also sees a joint effort between the Home Nations. The England cricket team is actually representative of England and Wales. The only Welsh county cricket team, Glamorgan, often provides Welsh players with a platform from which to launch their England cricket career.

Player announcements for the two Olympic GB football teams will be made in shortly- we already know that only 7 of the 191 players who were contacted about their availability declined to take part. Keep watching the domestic football league and Champions League this season to make your predictions for the football stars of the Games in the meantime.

To see how a British team should be, visit www.getmein.com for cricket, rugby tickets and other sports tickets.strong

If Arsenal slip back into their early season rhythm of inconsistency and miserable form, they’ll have let slip through their fingertips another chance (and perhaps their last chance) to catch up with a Chelsea team that initially looked so impressive against Manchester United before the Red Devils’ stunning comeback. Fans of Betfair football betting will be keeping a close eye on things.

With this in mind, the next few months could prove to be the most important months since Arsene Wenger arrived at the club as a nervous, under pressure manager new to the English game, and could also make the difference between the Gunners pushing forward again as a top team or falling back into the pack of the Premier League’s Average Joes, with a long fight ahead of them to be perceived as candidates for the title in the future. The Premier League betting shows things could be tough for them.

Ultimately, though, Arsenal fans know that their side is slowly but surely returning to full strength and are unlikely to be as weak again as they were over the Christmas period. If they can continue proving that they’re in possession of that element of confidence that proved decisive in the 7-1 win over Blackburn, they’ll be able to challenge for fourth without any difficulties. If, however, more injury problems strike them, this could turn into a very, very long season indeed for Arsenal fans, players and the manager himself.

The two clubs will now battle it out to try and ensure their European campaigns don’t end at this relatively early stage – in a match-up that has to be viewed as being the round’s biggest tie. Those looking at the Europa League betting will be expecting a close match.

City manager Roberto Mancini has already admitted the draw had produced a clash that looked more suited to the Champions League. The Italian made it clear Porto were one of the Europa League’s strongest sides and one which would need properly preparing for. Many will see City as being favourites to progress to the next stage, however, Mancini knows his team could have been given a number of easier ties from the draw. Anyone following the Betfair online betting tips should remember this.

“Manchester City against Porto feels like a Champions League game, it is probably the toughest game we could have had,” he said.

“I have come up against them as a player before and also a manager, they are a very good team and a very strong club in Europe.”

“They are used to playing in Europe, in a great stadium. Not too many years ago they won the Champions League and also won the Europa League last year. So they are a strong team.”

Porto may not be the same force they were last season under Andres Villas-Boas – in a campaign which they dominated both domestically and in the Europa League – that said, however, they will certainly fancy their own chances of now going on to defend their title.

The Potters, now up to eighth in the table, had already beaten Liverpool and held Chelsea and Manchester United at home this season before they claimed a narrow 2-1 win over in-form Spurs on Sunday. Anyone placing Premier League bets will know what an upset that was.

Again the home fans created a hostile atmosphere in the game, which served to unsettle the visiting team, who found themselves 2-0 down at half time. Spurs rallied after the break and halved the deficit while they could bemoan some questionable refereeing decisions that went against them to deny them what had earlier seemed an unlikely point.

However, they were ultimately made to pay for a sloppy first half as Harry Redknapp’s side struggled to adapt to the tough conditions early on in the Potteries.

Woodgate is well aware just how a tough place Stoke is for other sides to go to and he believes it will stand them in good stead throughout the remainder of a gruelling season, with the Europa League again a distraction in the New Year.

“Nobody likes coming to Stoke,” he said. “The referee doesn’t like coming, the journalists don’t like coming, the police don’t like coming.

“Nobody likes coming to Stoke, apart from us.”

Woodgate, who joined the Potters after being released by Spurs following an injury-dogged few years, knows how important the victory could be as they chase a top-half finish in the Premier League. Fans of Betfair football will be wondering what sort of impact it will have on the rest of their season.

He added: “It was a great win against a top team in Tottenham. They are going for the league title but it is hard to come to Stoke and get three points.”

UEFA clearly took a gamble by appointing two countries suffering from both social and economic challenges to host the biggest football tournament in Europe, and whilst both countries are respected for their own footballing prowess, their pedigree as hosts was non existent. It did seem to be a bit of payback to the eastern bloc nations from Michel Platini, as they helped him into office a mere 3 months before the decision was made.

Four years down the line, the decision looks a lot smarter than it did back then. The runner up in the vote was Italy, and considering the current crisis facing this country in both their politics and their economy, if the vote had gone their way it seems very unlikely that next years tournament would happen at all.

It is good to see, therefore, that to the governments of Poland and the Ukraine have put Euro 2012 as a top priority and have between them spent an estimated €25bn to properly prepare for the tournament, but there can be no doubt about it that this has been one massive challenge for these countries.

A model tournament in 2008 was jointly hosted by Austria and Switzerland but the challenge of the infrastructure alone will make next summers jamboree a whole different ball game. Any supporter who intends travelling to the event and wishes to see matches in Gdansk in the west and Donetsk in the east faces a journey of 1850km, or 1150 miles.

At either end of their trek, however, they will find magnificent new state of the art stadiums, and with the impressive upgrades that have taken place at the stadiums in Kiev and Warsaw, the players will at least have the knowledge that they are playing in much superior stadiums than those which were used in 2008.

Article courtesy of www.footballandfashion.co.uk

The Blues appeared on course for the win that would have booked their progression out of Group H after Didier Drogba gave them the advantage in Germany early in the second half.

However, they threw away the lead and an injury-time winner from Manuel Friedrich gave Leverkusen a 2-1 win.

Now Villas-Boas’ side must win or keep a clean sheet against Valencia in their final group game to qualify but, despite the pressure, the Portuguese coach insists they will get the required result and the Champions League betting shows they have every chance of doing so.

“It’s in our hands to qualify. It’s a game at home and we expect to do our job,” he said.

“That’s our responsibility and we don’t want to let the fans down. We will need Stamford Bridge completely behind us.”

The defeat is another blow to Villas-Boas, however, with reports suggesting owner Roman Abramovich is running out of patience with the man he brought in from Porto in the summer – barely four months into the job.

Chelsea have now lost four of their last seven games in all competitions and the defeat in the league last weekend to Liverpool has left them 12 points adrift of leaders Manchester City. Fans of Betfair football will be surprised by how poorly they have done.

Add to that disappointing losses against QPR and Arsenal over the past month and the pressure is building on the manager, who knows failure to make the last 16 of the Champions League or, even worse, not making the top four this season will not be tolerated by the notoriously hard-to-please Russian owner.

The Blues host Wolves on Saturday in what is already being described as a must-win game for the Londoners before another clash against Liverpool in the Carling Cup next Tuesday.

It ultimately cost them the chance to prevent rivals Manchester United from winning a record 19th domestic crown. Those following the football betting odds will be wondering if they can do the same again.

The time around a series of disciplinary issues, as well as the John Terry race remark allegations, has led to an unsettling fortnight in which the Blues have won just one game in four in all competitions.

A disappointing home defeat by Arsenal was followed by an uninspiring goalless away draw against Genk in the Champions League, but Villas-Boas insists the players’ confidence is not dented.

“When things don’t go our way, we can’t be happy with what’s passing,” he said.

“This week that has passed, and the results we have been getting, doesn’t hurt our confidence.”

The Stamford Bridge boss added: “There’s a good spirit in the group. There’s a negative momentum we are passing by.

“We want wins as soon as possible. We went past a bad period and bad momentum last year, and we want to avoid that again.”

The Portuguese coach also revealed forgotten man Michael Essien could be back from knee surgery before the end of 2011. Those following the Premier League odds will be wondering if he can get back to his best.

The Ghana international was ruled out for six months after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in July but Villas-Boas is hoping for some belated Christmas cheer.

He said: “Essien is making good progress. We’re looking at the end of December, I think.”

The win will have helped ease the pain felt by United after their humbling at the hands of their main title rivals, while Everton will be aggrieved they didn’t come out of the game with at least a point.

Moyes was full of praise for his side, and believes they can take heart from matching a talented United side just days after they pushed Chelsea all the way in the Carling Cup.

“The players deserve immense credit for the way they went about the game today,” Moyes said. “It was tough after the week we had and it shows that, we went toe to toe with Chelsea in mid-week and we played Manchester united today and we went very close as well.”

“So, I’ve got no faults at all, just disappointed we didn’t take something from the game.” He added.

Hernandez was on hand to pounce upon a Patrice Evra cross to hand United the lead after 19th minute, but Everton made a good case for a draw as Leighton Baines rattled the crossbar with a trademark free-kick while Louis Saha couldn’t replicate the form that convinced United boss Sir alex Ferguson to spend £12.8 million on the Frenchman back in 2004.

Moyes was left rueing his side’s lack of cutting edge in front of goal, but added that he was happy with his side’s efforts against the Champions.

“There was a spell just after the start of the game where we did well, then they came into it a little bit more when they got the goal, but they boys played ever so well today and I don’t think they deserved to lose the game.” He commented.

“We could have had better play up and around the edge of the box, we had opportunities, we had a couple of chances even at the end where we could have slid somebody in, it was just a little bit of anxiety and a little bit of inexperience as well.

“I think had it been the other way around the Manchester United boys would have probably made the key pass at the right moment, but we’ve not quite got that. What I do have is an abundance of spirit and great lads who are doing everything they can to win the games.”

The defeat leaves Everton thirteen point adrift of their opponents with games against Newcastle, Wolves and Bolton to come in November.

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