Romania named two uncapped players, including teenager George Puscas, in their squad for the Euro 2016 qualifier against Northern Ireland and the friendly against Denmark next month.
The 18-year-old striker im-pressed for Inter’s youth team, scoring 14 goals in six matches this season though he was yet to make the senior team debut.
Puscas, however, is not the youngest player to make the Romania squad.
In May, Viitorul Constanta defender Cristian Manea played 90 minutes in their 1-0 win over Albania in a friendly at the age of 16.
Two terms enough as FIFA chief – Dyke
Football Association chairman Greg Dyke believes a second candidate should challenge Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency when he stands for re-election in June.
Blatter, who became the eighth FIFA president in 1998, ran unopposed for his fourth term in 2011 and confirmed he would stand for a fifth citing his unfinished “mission”.
But Dyke has called for change and believes the presidential reign should be restricted to two terms.
“As an individual he is OK, but two terms is probably as long as anyone should do in that job,” Dyke said. “You need change and it’s hard to get change if you don’t change the president.”
Speroni was ‘almost assaulted’ – Warnock
Crystal Palace manager Neil Warnock believes his goalkeeper Julian Speroni was “almost assaulted” during an incident which changed the course of his side’s 2-2 draw with West Brom in the Premier League on Saturday.
Warnock compared the clash involving West Brom’s Craig Dawson, which led to Speroni being flattened as Albion scored their first goal, to the infamous episode which left Bert Trautmann injured in the 1956 FA Cup final.
“The physio said he’s okay and I said ‘no he’s not’,” Warnock said. “He got smashed. I don’t even think he knew he wanted to stay on.
“If officials can’t see a smash like that then I’ve got to protect my goalkeeper.
“It was almost an assault.”
Hummels puzzled by Dortmund slump
Borussia Dortmund defender Mats Hummels admitted “everything that can go wrong is going wrong” at the moment as he struggled to find an explanation for his side’s third home defeat of the Bundesliga season.
Dortmund were beaten 1-0 by Hannover on Saturday to sit just a point above the relegation zone.
“We’ve not been worse than any of our opponents, yet we’re still losing one game after the other,” Hummels said.
“This is currently a difficult phase in which in the Bundesliga everything that can go wrong is going wrong. It’s get really difficult to find explanations.”
Hitzfeld: ‘I was on brink of burnout’
Ottmar Hitzfeld has revealed that exhaustion was the reason he turned down the chance to become Germany coach 10 years ago.
Hitzfeld had just left Bayern and held talks with the German Football Association (DFB) about taking charge of the national team after their disappointing showing at Euro 2004.
“After six years with Bayern, I was on the brink of burnout,” said the 65-year-old, who retired from the game after leading Switzerland to the last 16 of the World Cup.
“Joy, adrenaline and motivation are so important in performance sport so I could tell something was not right with me.
“I simply would not have been capable of taking on this challenge. I had no energy, and when your health is not fine, you can’t perform to your best.”
We believe in Balotelli – Skrtel
Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel feels sorry for Mario Balotelli as the striker’s struggles continue.
Balotelli has still not scored in the Premier League since joining the Reds in a £16 million deal in August.
His luckless run continued as Hull frustrated the Merseysiders to claim a goalless draw in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday.
But Skrtel came to the Italian’s defence, saying: “He is working hard and showed some good moments. I feel sorry for him. He is working hard in training, he is working hard in the game. He just hasn’t got the goals.
“We just believe in him. We will be supporting him and just hope he will start scoring goals.”
Mladenov knocked out by snowball
CSKA Sofia coach Stoycho Mladenov was knocked unconscious by a snowball thrown from rival Levski Sofia supporters as crowd trouble marred Bulgaria’s most explosive derby on Saturday.
On a snow-bound day when police detained 57 suspected football hooligans before leaders CSKA’s 3-0 win, Mladenov was hit in the head by the snowball in the early stages of the game and collapsed on to the athletics track surrounding the pitch.
“They hit me with a snowball and I lost consciousness,” Mladenov told reporters.
“It’s not the first, second or third Levski offence. They should throw them out of the group! Tomorrow, someone could die.”