I’m a Pompey fan, and I’ve been asked by Herr Hippo to write an article on Pompey players who could be in Germany in the summer. I’m going to concentrate on those who may be playing in the World Cup, as I’ve had no response to my e-mail asking what the holiday plans of the players are. As I sit down to research my article, it occurs to me that Herr Hippo is probably just taking the piss out of me. However, I’m determined to prove him wrong, so I’ll endeavour to write a long and detailed article about all the fabulous players Pompey have. Failing that, I’ll write a long and detailed article about all the poor players Pompey have in an attempt to make it seem like we have genuine World Cup pedigree.

Serbia: Ognjen [pronounced Ognjen] Koroman, on loan from Terek Grozny, is likely to be called up to the Serbia and Montenegro squad. Koroman saw joining Pompey as a chance to cement his place in the World Cup squad, which is strange - his S&M team-mate (er, that’s Serbia and Montenegro by the way) Zvonomir Vukic recently left Pompey for the same reason. The Pompey captain, Dejan Stefanovic, is another Serbian playing on the South coast, although he’s unlikely to be able to force his way back into the meanest defence in Europe, particularly as he is: a) injured for most if not all of the rest of the season; and, b) currently playing in one of the most generous defences in Europe.

Argentina: Another player on loan at Pompey who has World Cup aspirations is Andres D’Alessandro, the Argentinean playmaker. He was a regular in the side at the start of the qualifying campaign, but has not featured in recent games. However, the new coach of Argentina, Jose Pekerman, was in charge of the Argentina side that won the 2001 World Youth Cup, and his star player at that tournament was D’Alessandro. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a place in the squad open up for him. I would rate D’Alessandro as the “One to Watch”, not because of his likelihood of a World Cup place, or even for his silky skills, but because you’ll spend the entire time wondering how his balance is so good when his huge head must surely make him very top heavy.

Poland: Emmanuel Olisadebe, a transfer window acquisition, could feature in the Poland team. His record for them is impressive but injuries and lack of first team action have seen him dropped from the Polish squad. He’ll be hoping to get a chance to prove himself and, given that Pompey’s strikers couldn’t hit a metal cow’s arse with a magnetic banjo, to stand out in Pompey’s frontline this season shouldn’t be hard. He’s currently recovering from injury and playing in the reserve team - with little impact.

To be continued…!  

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 5th, 2006 at 10:48 am and is filed under Players. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Return to home page.