Football news - The Warm-Up: Callum Hudson-Odoi gets England call before a league start for Chelsea
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Updated 19/03/2019 at 08:59 GMT
We'll level with you: there's not much around this rainy Tuesday, so settle in for some creative filler from the Warm-Up...
Chelsea's Callum Hudson-Odoi celebrates scoring their third goal
Image credit: Reuters
TUESDAY’S BIG STORIES
Good enough for England, but not Chelsea?
The hoopla surrounding Callum Hudson-Odoi has died down just a little bit of late, Bayern Munich having apparently gone much quieter about their interest in the young Chelsea winger.
But it might get rather louder if he makes his full England debut, which is a possibility after he was called up to the full squad by Gareth Southgate. Hudson-Odoi hasn’t even played a game for the Under-21s yet, but he was drafted from that squad into the grown-ups selection following a few injuries, meaning he could make an international appearance before he’s made a Premier League start for Chelsea.
He said:
It’s been a crazy experience but getting my first [senior] international call-up is an amazing feeling. I thought the manager [U21s coach Aidy Boothroyd] was joking. I was shocked and then, when I heard I actually had to go over, I couldn’t believe it. I was delighted. It’s a dream come true. Now I’ve got to work hard, enjoy every moment and keep working to make an impact when I get the opportunity.
Maurizio Sarri is a stubborn man, for good or bad, but even this might give him a moment’s pause for thought: sure, Hudson-Odoi is young, but if he’s good enough to be called up for the World Cup semi-finalists, maybe he might be good enough to get at least a bit of a go for the sixth-best team in the Premier League.
Are Tottenham gearing up for a big payday?
Back in 1932 Herbert Chapman managed to persuade the relevant authorities to rename Gillespie Road tube station, near to his football club’s Highbury stadium, in order to beef up their reputation and get the name Arsenal out there quicker. After all, if it says ‘Arsenal’ on the tube map, you know where you’re going.
In a way, Tottenham are doing the same thing, with the opening of their new ground just a few weeks away (probably): the White Hart Lane station, just around the corner from the stadium, is apparently set to be renamed Tottenham Hotspur station. A Transport for London spokesman said:
The mayor does not support setting a precedent of selling off station names. However, a unique brand partnership between TfL and Tottenham Hotspur would benefit both TfL and Tottenham, supporting significant investment to create a new sport, leisure and entertainment destination as part of the wider regeneration of the area. TfL are still in discussions about this opportunity.
It doesn’t exactly take an arch cynic to conclude that this is less about the proud name of Tottenham Hotspur football club, and more about the potential naming rights to the new ground. Those naming rights are still to be confirmed, but let’s just say that it’s in Tottenham’s interest for the station to be called something other than White Hart Lane, when the ground is going to be called something other than White Hart Lane.
David Ospina is OK
There’s frankly not much news around today so we might as well bring you some good news, and that comes from Italy where David Ospina, on loan at Napoli from Arsenal, had to leave the game against Udinese at the weekend after collapsing on the pitch.
Ospina had previously suffered a head injury, following a collision with Ignacio Pussetto, but appeared to collapse later on in the game. Understandably there was some significant concern and the keeper was taken to hospital, but after a night under observation he was released on Monday.
It wouldn’t be fair to speculate whether the medical staff were correct to let Ospina stay on the pitch following the first head injury, but at least this keeps the conversation around such an important thing going.
IN OTHER NEWS
First words we can all aspire to
When 22-year-old Hibs fan Darren Thomson had a stroke last year, he was placed on life support and had two operations to drain fluid from his brain. The absolute best he could hope for was a long, presumably painful recovery, and who knows when he would be able to talk again.
Well the latter took about three months, his first words coming while doctors were carrying out a check-up near his bed. Here he is to take up the story:
I was so confused, I didn’t even know what was happening or anything. But when I had a Hearts doctor looking after me, someone had said ‘what’s Hearts’ and I just said ‘Hearts are s***e’. It just came to me, I was so happy that I spoke out, everyone laughed. It felt so good to just hear my own voice again.
Hopefully none of us have to go through something like that, but if we did, hopefully that’s how we’d react.
IN THE CHANNELS
At first glance, Craig Burley’s roasting hot take about Monchi appears to be the very epitome of the Proper Football Man’s oeuvre of Big Opinions, another ‘tell it like it is’ proclamation from the man who dismissed xG and indeed all stats as ‘nerd nonsense’.
But there is some sort of truth buried in there. Monchi was clearly a man with a keen eye for talent at Sevilla, having built teams that won about a billion Europa Leagues against the odds. But he’s another example of the ace talent-spotter who did basically nothing after leaving the club where they made their name, the most prominent example in England being Steve Walsh, who went from unearthing N’Golo Kante for buttons at Leicester to spending £45million on Gylfi Sigurdsson at Everton.
So perhaps this is all part of the hunt for narrative in football, the idea that everyone is looking for a through-path, or the comforting notion that everyone knows what they’re doing. But in reality perhaps football, much like life in general, is essentially chaos and everyone is just winging it.
HAT TIP
Aissa Mandi and Marc Bartra held their head in theirs hands, which is normal for defenders who’ve just conceded but Barcelona centre-back Clément Lenglet did the same, a few metres away. So did Sergi Roberto, watching from further back, both of them barely able to believe it. López, 6ft 2in, hadn’t even been far off his line, but he had been beaten for a fourth time, three of them by Messi. There was no culpability, just compassion. Maybe even a hint of pride; at least you were beaten like that and by him. López got up and blew his cheeks out, eyes wide: did you see that?!
For the Guardian, Sid Lowe takes you through the latest chapter in Leo Messi’s genius.
RETRO CORNER
For absolutely no reason at all, have a compilation of really good goals.
COMING UP
Nada. Nought. Zero. Nothing. Zilch. Nil. No hint. Not a sausage. No games. No football. Bleak, innit.
Tomorrow’s Warm-Up will be brought to you by Ben Snowball. Hopefully he can get creative in this howling void of No Football.
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