“I have considered this decision long and hard, and I believe that it is now the right time to give younger Finnish goalkeepers the chance to play on the international stage.”

I fear his club retirement can’t be far off. The testimonial match seemed a bit like a death warrant to me, after all you don’t do a testimonial match for someone who will be with you for years to come. To all Fins: I’m sorry for your loss. Jussi is a great keeper and a total legend.

Moving right along (sorry if I got a bit emotional there), Camel Meriem will not be joining the Wanderers. It seems as though he will be going on trial with Blackburn, though he is currently nursing an injury in France. Best of luck to Meriem, hopefully he will find the oasis of a football club soon (I couldn’t resist).

And lastly Joey O’Brien has signed and extension of his contract. He is now bound to the Reebok until 2011. O’Brien came up through our very own youth system, so I very much would like him to succeed. Unfortunately he’s been plagued with injuries and is currently recovering from a bad knee injury.

That’s all for general news, but keep an eye out for my posts about Chelsea coming up!

I keep trying, giving 100 percent and then we’ll see where it takes me. You have to be positive, and confident in your own ability. I am hungry to get there and hopefully it will work out for me in the end.

So all signs are pointing to yes for the England call up (and actual playing time), which I am really pleased about. Cahill’s been one of my favorites for a while now, and I definitely think he has the quality to be an international, and it is great news for Cahill, but is it good news for Bolton? I’m not so sure, because Capello wasn’t the only one in the stands on Saturday. The scouts of a certain Scotsman who runs a certain football team which is rather near the Reebok were there too. Cahill’s also been linked with Juventus, AC Milan, Chelsea, and Tottenham. If the rumors are to be believed (which they probably shouldn’t be), ‘Arry has already set aside 20 million.

This puts us in a tough position as Cahill is definitely the rock of our back four, but 20,000,000 pounds is a lot of money (I put all the zeros in there to remind you how much money it is). We could bring in some depth with 20 mil. Megson has come out with a statement that he won’t be selling Cahill. But really can our board pass it up? Our defense is definitely bad right now and Cahill is the one protecting our goal difference. I really don’t want him to be sold but come January it may be inevitable.

Gretar Steinsson featured for Iceland in a 1 all draw with Norway in a Qualifier. Steinsson made the cross which resulted in Iceland’s goal. Poor Iceland are bottom of their group with only 5 points from eight games. Iceland will not be traveling to South Africa next summer.

Johan Elmander played for Sweden against Hungary in a qualifier. The Swedes won 2-1 with a late goal. It doesn’t look like Elmander played much of a role in the match and was substituted out for Marcus Berg at 76 minutes. They sit third in their group, only one point behind Hungary and five points behind leaders Denmark.

Jussi Jaaskelainen, one of my favorite Wanderers, was in goal for Finland. They beat Azerbaijan 1-2. Finland could still qualify, but it is looking rather unlikely.

Lee Chung-Yong set up one of South Korea’s goals in their friendly against Australia which ended 3-1 in favor of South Korea. The Socceroos were favored to win this game but were uncreative and outplayed by South Korea.

Fabrice Muamba did not play a very big role in the England U21’s game against FYR Macedonia U21’s, and he was substituted off at halftime. England won 1-2.

Ivan Klasnic sat on the bench for Croatia in their 1-0 win over Belarus in World Cup qualifying. That leaves Croatia four points behind England with one game in hand.

Moving on from international news which is only peripherally related to Bolton. Actually never mind this news is rather peripheral too. The Bolton Wanderers finished runners up in the 2009 Masters Grand Final against Tranmere, the final score being 4-3. The squad was: Simon Farnworth, Scott Green, Julian Darby, Tony Kelly, Richard Sneekes, Michael Johansen, David Lee, Simon Charlton and Steve Thompson. So hooray for Wanderers who can actually score!

And finally ticket prices to the Carling Cup tie against West Ham have been reduced to as low as 10 pounds. If you’ll be near the Reebok on September 22, snap these up!

That’s all for me for now, it’s time to get some sleep, but expect a match preview on the Portsmouth game this Saturday soon.

His call up also means that 10 first team Wanderers will be away on international duty this weekend. They are as follows: Gretar Steinsson for Iceland, Johan Elmander for Sweden, Jussi Jaaskelainen for Finland, Sam Ricketts for Wales, Ali Al Habsi for Oman, Lee Chung-Yong for South Korea, Jlloyd Samuel for Trinidad and Tobago, Fabrice Muamba for England’s U21s, Ivan Klasnic for Croatia, and obviously Gary Cahill for England. So good luck to all our far-flung Trotters during this international break! Except, of course, Ivan Klasnic, as he will be playing against England, I hope he has a good game but loses badly.

Idan Tal scored for Israel in their four – nil stomping of Estonia. Israel continues to keep the pressure on England at this point.

After starting in Greece’s four – one loss to Turkey Stelios sound himself on the bench while Greece went on to a one – nil win over lowly Malta.

Michalík who wasn’t even called up for Slovakia’s three – one win over Cyprus had a spot on the bench for Slovakia in their one – nil defeat by Ireland.

Jääskeläinen started in net as the Fins lost to Azerbaijan.

Méïté and the Ivory Coast picked up a three – nil win over Madagascar keeping them atop their group with six points in two games.

El-Hadji Diouf and Abdoulaye Faye picked up a win with Senegal four – nil over Tanzania. Diouf contributed two assists. Jamaica picked up a draw in their friendly.

Well if we were to have a team consisting solely of Englishmen when it came time for international weeks like the one ahead of us, most of our team would be sitting around and training. This is good, but at this stage in the season, it’s good to keep match fit and play a match a week or so. When we field only a few quality individuals from any given country, it’s likely they’ll be called up for international duty, so it is with Bolton this upcoming week. Of our eighteen listed possibilities for Saturdays match against Manchester United, nine have been called up for senior international duty. On top of that, one of our players out on loan has been called up for the national team, and a handful have been called up for their countries youth squads (most of them on loan.) All in all, fifteen of our boys have been called into international duty.

Idan Tal, and Tal Ben Haim have both been called up by Israel. Tal hasn’t seen much time for the Whites while Ben Haim has really been a stand out in the back.

Stelios will play for Greece

Jääskeläinen will mind the net for Finland.

El-Hadji Diouf and Abdoulaye Faye will play for Senegal against Tanzania.

Ricardo Gardener will play for Jamaica.

The other Faye, Méïté, will play two matches for the Cote D’Ivorie.

Andranik, who has really showed his promise when he’s been given minutes, will play for Iran.

New signing, and on loan defender Ľubomír Michalík, has been called up to the Slovakian national team.

Our youngsters Johann Smith, and Ricardo Vaz Té (both on loan) have been called into action for the US and Portugal respectively, while the Polish threesome of Jaroslaw Fojut, Blazej Augustyn and Przemysław Kazimierczak have all been called up (I really can’t wait until they make it to the first team and we have to wrap our mouths around those names.)