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Euro 2008 - Premier League players fail to shine

Some may well view the Premier League as the best league in the world, but if Euro 2008 is anything to go by, it still has some way to go.

Originally Posted by eurosport.yahoo.com

The English top flight is famed for its ability to attract the best players from around the world but while they may shine for their club sides, the vast majority of Premier League players have failed to propel their countries to success in Austria and Switzerland.

Out of the 48 players who started the competition as Premier League players, just eight remain on active duty at the semi-final stage. And of those eight, just four are classed as starters - Michael Ballack, Fernando Torres, Emre and Tuncay (pictured).

But while 'England's finest' are seriously under-represented in the final stages of the tournament, the same cannot be said for some of the rather more unfashionable European leagues.

The German, Turkish and Russian leagues contribute a total of 63 players in the semi-final nations' squads with a further 21 provided by Spain's Liga. France's Ligue 1 has one sole representative in the final four - Turkey's Mevlut Erdinc who plays for Sochaux.

Perhaps it is time to start reassessing where the power actually lies in European football.




Premier League players still in action at Euro 2008:


SPAIN: Pepe Reina (Liverpool), Alvaro Arbeloa (Liverpool), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Xabi Alonso (Liverpool), Fernando Torres (Liverpool)


GERMAN: Michael Ballack (Chelsea) TURKEY: Emre Belozoglu (Newcastle United), Tuncay Sanli (Middlesbrough)





And those who have already returned home:


FRANCE: William Gallas (Arsenal), Patrice Evra (Manchester United), Lassana Diarra (Portsmouth), Claude Makelele (Chelsea), Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea), Florent Malouda (Chelsea)


AUSTRIA: Emanuel Pogatetz (Middlesbrough) CROATIA: Vedran Corluka (Manchester City), Luka Modric (Tottenham Hotspur), Niko Kranjcar (Portsmouth)


CZECH REPUBLIC: Petr Cech (Chelsea), Marek Matejovsky (Reading), Milan Baros (Portsmouth)


GREECE: Giorgos Samaras (Celtic), Stelios Giannakopoulos (Bolton Wanderers - released)


NETHERLANDS: Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United), Wilfred Bouma (Aston Villa), Mario Melchiot (Wigan Athletic), Andre Ooijer (Blackburn Rovers), Ryan Babel (Liverpool), Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (Celtic)


POLAND: Artur Boruc (Celtic), Tomasz Kuszczak (Manchester United), Lukasz Fabianski (Arsenal), Marek Saganowski (Southampton)


PORTUGAL: Jose Bosingwa (Chelsea), Paulo Ferreira (Chelsea), Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United), Nani (Manchester United)


SWEDEN: Andreas Isaksson (Manchester City), Olof Mellberg (Aston Villa - leaves July 1), Fredrik Ljungberg (West Ham United), Sebastian Larsson (Birmingham City)


SWITZERLAND: Philippe Senderos (Arsenal), Johan Djourou (Arsenal), Gelson Fernandes (Manchester City)

Article Here!




Intersting article lads, i may comment this like this:


"Maybe most of them are best as a single stand player and when you putt all of them together they don't give the same randament because of their individual play and not a team one.

Or maybe more of them are at the end of the powers after a very tough end of the EPL season."


What is your opinion about this article guys ?