There were four, possibly five, Villans involved as England drew 2-2 with Switzerland and the United States were comprehensively beaten 4-0 by Spain yesterday. Darren Bent and Eric Lichaj started for their sides, Ashley Young and Michael Bradley entered their games at half time and Stewart Downing made a late appearance for England and almost won it with the final kick of the game.
England 2 Switzerland 2
England gifted Switzerland a two goal head start with some comedic set piece defending
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We believe that Michael Bradley will be joining Aston Villa on permanent basis, but in this video from US Soccer he reflects, along with Jermaine Jones and Tim Howard, on the special challenges facing a player on loan.
There’s an interesting nugget towards the end as Bradley and Jones, who both came from the Bundesliga, confess to being off the pace of the game in England to begin with. In Bradley’s case, he’d have been extra rusty having not seen much
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Darren Bent completed the trio of Villans on England duty taking their turns in front of the media ahead of the Euro 2012 qualifier against Switzerland. He talks about his ability and willingness to play in either a one or two striker system and how moving to Villa was the right move for him. I agree.
And if you’re after a little reading material, I’d recommend this Guardian interview with Bent where he reveals how out of place he felt during
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As you’ll be aware, Ashley Young and Stewart Downing – along with Darren Bent – are on international duty ahead of England’s Euro 2012 qualifier against Switzerland on Saturday and both took part in the press conference.
Ashley Young
Stewart Downing
Training Footage
YouTube Video
If you would like, you can download a ‘Be The 12th Man’ wallpaper for your desktop, iPhone or iPad.
Another FATV interview with Ashley Young, this time post-match with what looks like Kyle Walker stuffing his face in the background. As you’ll no doubt be aware, the Villa lads were once again instrumental in England’s 2-0 win over Wales in their Euro 2012 qualifier with Ash winning the penalty for the first goal thanks to a clumsy challenge from our own James Collins.
Ash was the provider for the second, squaring Glen Johnson’s superb long ball for Darren Bent to
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Ashley Young talking to FATV ahead of England’s Euro 2012 qualifier against Wales on Saturday.
YouTube Video
James Collins gets a mention in the video, he was in the frame to captain the Welsh side on Saturday, but contrary to silly rumours circulating earlier this week, he’s only playing after passing a fitness test and was not fit for last Saturday’s game against Wolves.
Screamer
You’ve probably already seen Kyle Walker’s “screamer” in a small pitch training game with the Under-21s I Tweeted yesterday.
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One of the worst things any player can do when tasked with taking a penalty is to try something clever and fail spectacularly. Brilliant when it comes off, infuriating for the fans and embarrassing for the player when it doesn’t.
With the pressure on the pitch, even taking a text book penalty isn’t as easy as it looks, but here, working with Adidas, Ashley Young shows us how easy it can be on the training pitch.
YouTube Video
I don’t think he’ll be
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YouTube Video
Saturday 12th February 1994 – Aston Villa 5 Swindon 0
Dean Saunders (31, pen 66, pen 84), Steve Froggatt (55), Kevin Richardson (73).
Villa Starting XI: Bosnich, Cox, Barrett, McGrath, Froggatt, Houghton, Richardson, Townsend, Daley, Saunders, Atkinson.
8th placed Villa hosted newly promoted Swindon who were bottom of the league. Villa went on to finish 1993/94 in 10th, Swindon would only win one more game, remained bottom and were relegated.
(This video has just been uploaded, but I was thinking of trawling around
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