Wales football team news

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Wales football news - October 2002.


Vital plans. Mark Hughes has insisted that he will not back down on the decision to invoke the four-day players release rule for the game against Azerbaijan. The players will also be requested to arrive at the team hotel on the Saturday evening ahead of the game. Sparky will announce his squad for the game, which takes place in three weeks time, next Monday November 4th. "We have invoked the rule as for previous matches, however the difference is that we've done it early this time is to emphasise our position, the preparations for this match are vital." - FAW spokesman. Wednesday, October 30th 2002.

Baku brewing. A Yet another club-versus-country row could be brewing. The FAW has invoked the 4-day FIFA rule ahead of the game in Azerbaijan on Wednesday November 20th. This will mean that all players selected in the squad must report to the team hotel by 3pm Sunday. Players that are due to play for their clubs on the above day are Ryan Giggs, Robbie Savage, Mark Pembridge, Andy Melville and John Hartson. FAW officials have visited the National Stadium in Baku and were pleasantly surprised with standard of the surface. Monday, October 28th 2002.

Hard work. A 7pm kick off has been announced for the game against Azerbaijan next month. The team goes into the game full of confidence after the win against Italy, but has warned against taking their Eastern European opponents lightly. Due to the time difference the game will kick off 3pm here in Wales and take place at the Tofig Bakhramov in Baku. "There are no mugs in International football and Azerbaijan is a tough place to go." - Craig Bellamy Monday, October 21st 2002.

Hard work. John Hartson has warned that one of Wales' greatest results was no fluke or a one-game wonder. The Italy result came on the back of a six game unbeaten run, stretching back twelve months against some of the top nations in the world. Hartson also praised his manager and has stressed the performance's have not happened overnight. With the Azerbaijan game coming up next month Hartson has said there are no easy games nowadays in International football. "The result is three years of hard work that the boys have put in." - John Hartson Sunday, October 20th 2002.

Fast approaching. With the big game fast approaching the squad meet up shortly with the first team training session scheduled for Thursday. At the moment there are no injury worries reported and all the players and management must be on good heart after the excellent result in Finland. The only slight worry for Mark Hughes is the small number of players who have lost their first team places with their respective clubs. Tuesday, October 8th 2002.