Milan Baros Told To Get Married As International Duty Beckons

By: Inara | November 9th, 2007

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According to Karel Bruckner, the coach of the Czech Republic NT, all the trouble Milan Baros has been getting into recently (which include getting into a dispute with his own government and breaking speeding records) was the result of his stress at being benched at Lyon, and that once he gets married, Baros will calm down. Though Baros hasn’t played for Lyon in weeks, Bruckner still counts on him and considers him to be an excellent striker.

Getting married shouldn’t been too much of a hardship for Milan – his girlfriend is pretty hot.

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International Call Ups:

France (vs. Morocco – 11/17/07, vs. Ukraine – 11/21/07): Sebastien Squillaci, Francois Clerc, Jeremy Toulalan, Sidney Govou, Karim Benzema, Hatem Ben Arfa (full list here).

Sweden (vs. Spain – 11/17/07, vs. Latvia – 11/21/07): Kim Kallstrom (full list here).

Czech Republic (vs. Slovakia – 11/17/07, vs. Cyprus – 11/21/07): Milan Baros (see full list here).

Italy (vs. Scotland – 11/17/07, vs. Faroe Islands – 11/21/07): TBA – but expect Fabio Grosso to be called up.

Ivory Coast (vs. Angola – 11/17/07, vs. Qatar – 11/21/07): Kader Keita (full list here)

Switzerland (vs. Nigeria – 11/20/07): Patrick Muller will miss out due to injury (full list here).

Brazil (vs. Peru – 11/17/07, vs. Uruguay – 11/21/07): TBA

Algeria have not announced any friendlies during this international week, so Nadir Belhadj will stay behind at Lyon.

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Cris, who made the journey from Brazil to be examined by OL doctors and to cheer on Lyon during their game against Stuttgart, stopped by the club’s TV station for a quick chat. He said that he wants to end his career at OL and wants to live in Lyon forever! Apparently, he and his family are in love with the city and can’t imagine living anywhere else.

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According to some rather dubious sources, Karim Benzema’s agent confirmed that Benzema wasn’t going anywhere this winter or this summer because Benzema was very happy at Lyon, and furthermore, he expected Benzema to have a golden future with Lyon.

Benzema confirmed this by saying that though he’s happy to have attracted the interest of such big clubs, he still has much to do at Lyon.

That’s exactly what we OL fans like to hear!

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Irish football fans will ~~hate~~ love this. Former OL manager Gerard Houllier has been linked to the vacant coaching position of the Republic of Ireland National Team. Houllier, by the way, spent Wednesday evening on air with Manchester United’s coach Alex Ferguson as they debated various footballing topics. More proof that Ged likes England better than France.

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This Sunday, during Lyon’s game against Marseille, it will be Juninho’s 200th L1 appearance for Lyon. It will also be Samir Nasri’s 100th appearance for Marseille.

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I had meant to point this out earlier, but awhile back, Sam created a Facebook Group for the Offside. Check it out!

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To continue with my pimping, the Offside also now features its very own podcast. Thoughtfully headed up by Ian and Anne, it basically reviews both serious and quirky footballing news, much of which is incorporated from various Offside blogs. It’s still in the early stages, so there are some kinks being worked out. Right now the news is rather EPL-centric, but pretty soon there will be news (in English!) about French, Italian, and other leagues. Listen to the podcasts here.

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There seems to be some chaos regarding Anderson’s suspension. He was given a red card against PSG two weeks ago and was automatically suspended for Lyon’s match against Caen, which he sat out. Normally in France, a red card results in one suspended match and a probationary period (the length depends on the offense). Lyon appealed the probationary period, which resulted in Anderson this time getting flat out suspended by the LFP’s Discipline Committee. So now Lyon have turned to a higher authority, Comité National Olympique et Sportif Français (CNOSF), to have the suspension overturned.

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