Anyone for jokes about towels on sun-kissed South African beaches?

Looking ahead to World Cup qualifiers in September – Part 4

Europe: Group Four

The ruthlessly efficient Germans are ruling the roost in this group. Four points ahead, with a game against closest rivals Russia on October 10th sandwiched between visits by Azerbaijan and Finland, would it be premature to start making jokes about towels on sun kissed South African beaches? Nope, didn’t think so. In summary, Finland and Russia are almost certainly hunting for a consolation play-off place.

Forthcoming fixtures:

September 5th

Russia – Liechtenstein

Azerbaijan – Finland

September 9th

Liechtenstein – Finland

Wales – Russia

Germany – Azerbaijan

Is Tevez fit or not?

Carlos Tevez might play for Man City this weekend, despite pulling out of the Argentina squad for next week’s friendly against Russia.

It’s the age-old story of a twisted ankle and a manager desperate to start the season with an expensive player who needs looking after.

At least that’s the only way I can interpret the latest comments from Mark Hughes.

According to one report Hughes “is mulling over the prospect of handing Carlos Tevez a friendly run-out against Celtic on Saturday.”

He is, however, apparently also “mindful of the fact the Argentina coach Diego Maradona has agreed to his request not to name the striker in his squad to face Russia in a friendly next week.”

Hughes’ admirably straight-faced response to questions on the subject suggests he may adopt a similar approach as the season progresses.

“We are pleased he is fit and well at the moment. He is not going with the international squad, which is good news from our point of view.”

So we know Tevez is fit but he can’t go to Russia to play for the country of his birth. That’s a clear victory for Man City in the season’s first club versus country debate.