Club versus Country, continued

[beachesl]

Good for Hiddink for calling out Moyes, incredibly bad form for the Everton coach to play hardball with Cahill after what Cahill has done for Everton. As we in Canada (should) know, being able to prepare a friendly before a crucial WCQ match is essential, and it doesn't get any bigger for Australia as they will have to be sparking to beat Columbia/Uruguay/Chile in November. Hiddink may have the Dutch gift for brutal frankness, but, hey, Moyes deserves it, don't choose this issue to take out his frustrations at recent club failures. When clubs hire internationals, they should be aware of possible conflicts, even if they have bought their souls otherwise with hard cash.

Hiddink will make Moyes pay (or the subsequent coach if Moyes is dumped, which may well happen in the next few months). Oh, yes. When the competitive matches come up, especially the Asian Cup (for which FIFA rules allow 15 clear days clear leave before competition starts) and qualifiers for it (5 days clear leave for internationals for matches overseas), Hiddink will now play hardball with Everton and force Cahill's departure the night before club matches he would have otherwise been allowed to play if the club had been a little bit cooperative.

Too bad Yallop couldn't have learnt to play a little hardball. Sorry to sound a little bitter[}] (hey, I'm an old man that wants us to go to the WC again before I die, I'm entittled), but I am firmly convinced that if Yallop had been tougher to negotiate on releases for a friendly ( "and next year we'll not call him for the Gold Cup for 6 weeks") and if he had insisted under the rules that Radz, De Vos and others had left for Canada Friday night instead of Sunday for the first WCQ friendly in the semis against Guatemala when we could have started out on the right foot, we would be fighting successfully in the hex at this moment. Had this happened, Radz wouldn't have had the false injury Coleman sleazed on, De Vos wouldn't have had the false diagnosis from the knock, and some of the other Euro players would have been more focused and fresher. Say it's a stretch, but that was the critical moment in my eye that started the fall, nwstng all the other problems that followed. Carpe diem.

Fulham and Everton to the relegation pile!

Rant over[:I].

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/e/everton/4315274.stm

Moyes stunned by Hiddink's barb

Everton boss David Moyes has hit back at Australia coach Guus Hiddink in the dispute over the release of Tim Cahill for Sunday's friendly with Jamaica.

Cahill did not attend training in Holland and Hiddink claimed: "Everton are bottom of the Premiership, and wanted reasons to keep him at home."

A staggered Moyes responded: "I find it quite incredible that someone would have the audacity to suggest that.

"For someone who is also a club manager, he should have known better."

Earlier, Hiddink revealed he called Moyes and asked that Cahill be allowed to attend the training camp but "the reaction was negative".

However, under Fifa rules regarding a friendly international, clubs do not have to release players until two days before the match.

Moyes added: "Tim was given the week off to recover and this was done purely to benefit him and subsequently Everton and Australia.

"We would never refuse Tim permission to play for Australia, nor would we refuse permission to any of our international players.

"I am absolutely staggered they would come out and say the things they did regarding Everton."

[Canuck Oranje]

Hiddink is a quality Coach and yes Yallop should watch him. He will learn at lot about dealing with clubs, player management, and team preparation as a National team coach.