Author: isport

Former Stoke city defender Matthew Upson has said that he will now retire from international football after having missed the squad for the Euro 2012, according to Arsenal News. The former West Ham United defender was overlooked by manager Roy Hodgson after the injury to Chelsea defender Gary Cahill.

The former Liverpool manager also overlooked the Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand in place of the inexperienced Liverpool defender Martin Kelly. After the announcement of the replacement of Gary Cahill with Martin Kelly, Matthew Upson has said that his international career is all but over. The 33-year-old has played for England at international level in 21 matches so far including the matches at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

He was one of the regular players under former manager Fabio Capello. A major portion of the 21 matches – 14 international caps – have come under Fabio Capello. Due to the fact that Roy Hodgson is expected to use a number of young players ahead of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Matthew Upson does not see himself getting into the squad alongside Wayne Rooney anytime soon. As a result, he now wishes to focus his football on his club game. Matthew Upson has distanced himself from rumours about leaving the club in the summer.

“I was not expecting anything (when hearing Cahill was injured). I would say that part of my career is sufficiently behind me and I can now look forward to whatever football has left for me at club level. It is a great achievement of mine to have played for England and I am really happy about what I did. I have my dates for pre-season training at Stoke and I am away on holiday at the moment. I have a contract at Stoke for one more season though and I am assuming that is where I will be this coming season,” said Upson.

Stoke city defender Matthew Upson has said that the club’s penultimate match of the season against QPR at Loftus Road is one of the toughest they might have been the season.

Even though QPR are down in the relegation zone, their home form has been one of the reasons for them to have a fighting chance to stay in the Premier league going into the final two matches of the season.

QPR has had an extremely surprising results against Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham at Loftus Road in the last few months. Since they will be facing table leaders Manchester City on the final day of the season, QPR will be pumped up to get all three points against Stoke in order to give them a fighting chance on the final day of the season.

Bolton and QPR are the two teams left fighting for the last spot in the relegation zone after Wigan managed to beat Blackburn in the midweek action. This result meant that Blackburn have now been relegated to the Championship. The final relegation spot will be decided between Bolton and QPR. QPR have the better position compared to Bolton because they have a much better goal difference. Even though they are safe now, Matthew Upson reckons three points at Loftus Road is vital.

“This game is going to be tough because QPR are in the fight of their lives. But we want to finish in the top ten, so there is everything for both teams to play for. Their home form has kept them alive. They have taken a lot of scalps there so it will be a tough test. We have to approach the game with our same endeavour and attitude. I think speculation is the key word. I have a contract for another season,” said Matthew Upson.

Stoke city manager Tony Pulis says that he is upbeat regarding his team’s chances of qualification into the next round of the Europa League, despite the defeat at the hands of Turkish side Besiktas.

Stoke city were defeated 3-1 on the night after Matthew Upson saw a red card midway through the match. Stoke city had taken the unlikeliest of leads through Ricardo Fuller the early on in the first half, but they were unable to preserve the lead when Matthew Upson was sent off after a challenge in the penalty area. Besiktas equalised with the subsequent penalty and they soon got into the lead with a goal about 20 min from the final whistle.

Edu’s goal just before the final whistle gave them a 3-1 lead, which looks extremely commanding, although Tony Pulis suggested that the tie is not over yet. Stoke city rested a number of players from the match against Tottenham, which clearly shows that they are focusing on the Premier League more than anything else. Still, they were able to field a very strong line-up for the match against Besiktas. Tony Pulis had only four substitutes because almost every member of the team that played Tottenham were left back home.

“We’ve finished above [Dynamo] Kiev and we’ve given Besiktas two very good games, especially when it was 11 against 11. Every one of the players who played has done absolutely fantastic for us and even when we went down to 10 men they just kept working and kept going,” Tony Pulis reacted following the defeat, which may leave them in the top position to qualify for the next stage of the Europa League. Mustafa Pektemek scored the goal for Besiktas to give them the lead, while Manuel Fernandes had given them the equaliser from the spot.