Section: Europe
»
Type: IFA News
|
McManus Out for Netherlands Clash
Scotland defender Stephen McManus has lost his battle to be fit for Saturday's World Cup qualifier against the Netherlands. Celtic captain McManus, 26, has failed to recover from an ankle injury sustained in club training and did not travel with the squad to Amsterdam. He will receive treatment from Celtic's medical staff but is not being ruled out of Wednesday's match with Iceland. Wolves defender Christophe Berra is the most likely candidate to replace him. McManus, who has been capped 17 times by his country, picked up an ankle injury in training last week and missed Celtic's 2-2 Scottish Premier League draw at Dundee United on Sunday. Meanwhile, Scotland manager George Burley has opted to play Allan McGregor ahead of regular goalkeeper Craig Gordon in the game in the Amsterdam ArenA. Gordon has been struggling to secure a starting slot in the Sunderland first team, while 27-year-old McGregor has rediscovered his form for Rangers. Burley said: "Allan McGregor will play because Craig has not been playing first-team football. "Allan deserves a chance and he will start in Holland." The Scotland manager explained his decision to award McGregor his fourth cap, almost two years after the keeper made his international debut in a 1-0 win in Austria. He said: "There has been a lot of talk, a lot of speculation, people talking about the pros and cons of who to play. "I had a chat with both goalkeepers yesterday and both were pushing for the number one spot. "Craig is a magnificent goalkeeper but Allan did well against Argentina and he has been playing well for Rangers. Allan is excited at the prospect. "It was important to make this decision now and not later." In addition to McGregor's caps against Austria and Argentina, he played for the second 45 minutes against Northern Ireland at Hampden, during which he brought down Warren Feeney in the box and then saved the resultant penalty by David Healy. Gordon moved to Sunderland from Hearts in 2007 for an initial fee of £7m, but has since lost the goalkeeping jersey to Hungarian Marton Fulop. Though disappointed at losing his international place too, Gordon will be aware of the precedent set by Burley with his very occasional deployment of Kris Boyd in attack when the Rangers striker was struggling for game time at Ibrox. Tottenham Hotspur defender Alan Hutton will not be risked in the match at the Amsterdam ArenA, but the Scotland camp insist the right-back will be considered for the home game against Iceland on 1 April. "Alan played 72 minutes at West Brom on Monday and did very well. He had no problems and looked lively and bright," said Burley. "But I spoke to him yesterday and I am not planning to play him in Holland although he will be considered for the Iceland game. Celtic midfielder Paul Hartley pulled out of the squad with a hamstring injury. The news on captain Barry Ferguson is more heartening for Burley as the Rangers midfielder has fully recovered from a rib injury and trained as normal on Thursday. Defenders David Weir and Kirk Broadfoot and winger Kris Commons had earlier pulled out with the versatile Steven Whittaker added. Injuries had already denied Burley the services of James McFadden, Shaun Maloney, Barry Robson, Kevin Thomson, Lee Miller and Garry O'Connor when he named his original 26-man squad. Atletico Madrid defender John Heitinga has been ruled out of the Netherlands squad after he picked up a head injury in the Spanish side's weekend defeat at Real Mallorca. Heitinga is also a doubt for the Netherlands' next World Cup qualifier against Macedonia on Wednesday. Reserve goalkeeper Michel Vorm of FC Utrecht has also pulled out of the squad to face the Scots. Ibrahim Afellay, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Khalid Boulahrouz and goalkeeper Michel Vorm all return having missed last month's friendly against Tunisia. But out-of-form Celtic striker Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink was left out of coach Bert van Marwijk's 23-man line-up. Andre Ooijer, who announced he would be leaving Blackburn for PSV Eindhoven next season, is expected to overcome a groin strain and could feature in defence. Story from BBC SPORT: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport1/hi/football/internationals/7963110.stm |
||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
