Morten Olsen has just announced his squad for the friendly against England at Wembley.

While Roy Hodgson has announced a 30 men squad for the friendly in March, the Danish manager has settled with 22. Among the 22 players, 11 may be unknown for the English fans as they normally play in the Danish Superliga. However, no need to worry; Lord Bendtner is ready for Wembley.

Former Charlton goalkeeper Stephan Andersen and Leicester keeper Kasper Schmeichel has been selected for the match along with FC Midtjylland's Jonas Lössl. 

In the defends Denmark has Andreas Bjelland, Liverpool's Daniel Agger, former Everton back Lars Jacobsen as well as Midtjylland's Jesper Juelsgaard, Esbjerg's Peter Ankersen and finally Simon Kjær of Lille.  

The biggest name on the Danish midfield is Christian Eriksen and he will be accompanied by either experienced Mainz midfielder Niki Zimling and Fulham loanee William Kvist. The other midfielders for the match are Casper Sloth and Danny Olsen, both AGF, Kasper Kusk, Aalborg BK, Thomas Delaney of FC Copenhagen, Thomas Kahlenberg, Brøndby, Emil Larsen of Odense and Martin Braithwaite of Toulouse and Michael Krohn-Dehli of Celta Vigo.

In the attack former Celtic striker Morten Duncan Rasmussen will battle with Nicklas Bendtner for a place in the starting line up. 

The match is played on the 5th of March.

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He is the manager of Chelsea FC and known for his temper; know he is surrounded by yet another controversy. Jose Mourinho is being charged by the FA.

He call himself the Special One, and Jose Mourinho really is one special man. At least when it comes to controversies. In the past,  he has been labeled as "enemy of football" by the UEFA referee's chief, Volker Roth, fined £200.000 by FA for meeting with Ashley Cole and in breach of the Premier League rules. Even worse, when he was in Real Madrid, he was seen gouging the eye of then Barcelona assistant coach Tito Vilanova and then calling him a penis on the following press conference.

This time the offence is lighter than earlier as he was ordered from the technical area by referee Anthony Taylor during Chelsea's match against Cardiff on Saturday. According to the Chelsea manager, Cardiff was time-wasting, and the manager protested several times. Finally, Anthony Taylor had enough and sent him up among the supporters on the stand. Of course, Mourinh0 did not understand the referee's decision:

"I don't know why the referee stopped me doing my work," he said after the match.

However, the FA understands the referees decision and have decided to charge Mourinho with improper conduct. The Portuguese has until 18.00 BST on 24 October to respond to the charge. He probably won't to avoid further penalties, but we all now that it burns inside him to say something. This is without a doubt, not the last controversy we have seen from the "Special One".




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Sunderland finally had enough of Martin O' Neill's failure to change, and sacked him on Sunday. Instead, the controversial Paolo Di Canio has taken over the Black Cats.

Already on his first day in Sunderland, Di Canio's past was questioned by the Football Against Racism in Europe asking to clarify his belief. The former West Ham player of the season in 2000 has admitted to having fascist leanings. Di Canio told the Italian news agency ANSA in 2005 "I am a fascist, not a racist." During his two spells in Lazio, Di Canio was often seen making a Nazi salute to the fans well known for it's fascist views.

Despite having managed Swindon Town, it is only just now his fascism leanings has been a problem for FARE. However, the Italian has earlier been the subject of a FA investigation after the on-loan Leyton Orient striker Jonathan Tehoue claimed he was racially abused by the Italian. Di Canio was cleared of charge, but Swindon made an apology to the players. The question is if a club in one of the most watched leagues globally can have a manager which such strong views?

The Premier League has been and is still struggling with racism, and Paolo Di Canio is just another problem. However, Paolo Di Canio's belief should not be a problem in doing his job. He is the manager for Sunderland and is representing the club, not himself. The Black Cats fans should be smart enough take a distance from fascism and racism, and it will only become a problem the day Di Canio starts marching around the stadium singing Nazi hymns and making the roman salute.





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The Kick It Out campaign has existed since the start of the 90's, but given the latest events in the Premier League question raises if racism has been kicked out of football?

A number of players boycotted the campaign in the weekend, and denied wearing the Kick It Out T-shirt during their warm-up. Anton Ferdinand, who was the one side of the John Terry saga, was one of the players who ditch the shirt. The same matters for Rio Ferdinand as well as the whole Swansea squad. However, more and more players, especially black, has denied wearing the shirt since 2007.

But how has the a campaign with such a great message, gone so wrong? Well, one of the reasons why is the shared feeling amongst black players, that KIO is not doing enough to battle racism. Joleon Lescott was the first player to refuse to wear the shirt, after his involvement in the Joseph Yobo vs. Emre Belozoglu. Emre was not punished in the racism case, even though Lescott had given written evidence.

The weekend's protest is more or less a result of the John Terry saga, as many of the players feels that the Chelsea captain was getting off easy from his alleged racism case. Furthermore, we see a tendency of more and more racial abuse in the Premier League, and it seems that Kick It Out and the F.A. have trouble stopping it.
 
Since Kick It Out was established there has been at least fifteen incidents of racism - which we know of - and several of them has either been without any intervention from KIO or have ended without any or a small punishment.

The message of keeping racism out of football has been shattered the last couple of years, and it seems unlikely that the body behind can collect all the pieces and reestablish it to was it was; at least in England. However, racism has to be KICKED out of football, but some new initiatives have to be made - fast! As Sir Alex Ferguson says:.

"This is a moment where we have to take stock. I think we should do something about it if it's surfacing again, and be really hard and firm on any form or shape of racism."

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This week’s football list features five things we have learned from this seasons Premier League.










1.    Money can buy happiness

Manchester City’s almost has the budget to sign who they want, and they have done so. This has brought a championship to the blues from Manchester and congratulation to the club and their fans. Whether or not ‘buying’ a Premier League title is deserved, is another discussion. That said, Manchester City has shown some amazing football this season, and it has been worth watching.

2.    Arsenal needs their Dutchman

This may be Robin van Persie’s best season ever, with 30 goals. European clubs are standing ready to sign the Dutch if Arsenal fails to negotiate a new contract. However, van Persie is almost a saint on the level with Thierry Henry, for the Gunners fans, and I am sure Wenger will give him whatever he wants for staying. If not, he will have to build up a new team around a new player.




3.    Managing West Bromwich is enough for FA

He was not the fans favorite, and looks like a panic signing by the FA. Roy Hodgson is the man, signed to bring glory to England in this summer’s EURO 2012. Indeed, he has done a great job in West Bromwich and has surprised everyone by ending the season on the 10th. However, the manager has never won any serious glory, and I doubt he will do it with England. 



4.    John Terry is a racist

Or at least that is what the FA means. John Terry may have said some racist words to Anton Ferdinand, but no one knows for sure. If he is guilty, he needs to be punished no doubt about it. However, FA’s decision to penalty the Chelsea defender, by sacking him as captain for England, before the trial is even started is terrible. Not only is it a direct sign of saying, "you did it!" to Terry, they also lost a great manager. Good job FA (read: sarcasm)

5.    Newcastle knows how to shop

Two signings, £10m spent, 29 goals scored and two men in the top ten of the Premier League top scorer list. That is the cold, hard fact of Newcastle’s signings of Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse. Who will the Magpies sign next? I am waiting, for them to bring the next profile to the Premier League. Come one guys, I know you can!












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