BEGOVIC CALLED UP FOR BOSNIA FRIENDLY

Bosnia and Herzegovina Manager Ciro Blazevic has called up Bosnian / Canadian goalkeeper Asmir Begovic for their August 12 friendly against Iran.

My understanding of the language is extremely limited - but from what I’ve found - Begovic has said he will NOT play v. Iran.

If that is indeed the case, it probably has everything to do with his current club situation since it looks like Portsmouth have signed the previously retired Antti Niemi to back-up the soon-to-be fit David James.

Begovic would certainly be loaned out to another club.

Squad named for Iran friendly:

Goalkeepers:
Nemanja Supić, Asmir Begović, Adis Nurković

Defenders:
Emir Spahić, Ivan Radeljić, Sanel Jahić, Damir Mirvić, Boris Pandža, Safet Nadarević, Adnan Mravac

Midfielders:
Dario Damjanović, Samir Muratović, Elvir Rahimić, Sejad Salihović, Miralem Pjanić, Zvjezdan Misimović, Zlatan Bajramović, Senijad Ibričić, Semir Štilić

Forwards:
Zlatan Muslimović, Edin Džeko, Vedad Ibišević, Admir Vladavić

WESLEY CHARLES RELEASED

VANCOUVER, BC - Vancouver Whitecaps FC announced today that defender Wesley Charles has been released by the club.

During Tuesday’s training session, Charles took exception to a tackle by fellow defender Jeff Parke and attempted to strike Parke. Charles was immediately dismissed from the grounds and training resumed.

"This is the second incident between Wesley Charles and a teammate in just over a month, and as a result, we have decided to release Charles outright," explained Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi. "As a club, we do not condone any violence on or off the pitch, and take such actions very seriously."

On June 12, during the latter stages of a Whitecaps home match versus Miami FC Blues, Charles was involved in an on-field incident with teammate Charles Gbeke. As a result of the altercation, Charles and Gbeke received monetary fines and were suspended for two matches.

Charles joined the Whitecaps on July 11, 2008, and played in 33 matches for 2,785 minutes of action over two half-seasons with the club. Prior to his move to the Whitecaps, Charles spent 11 seasons in the League of Ireland.

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This is crazy, Sandro Grande in Montreal, Wesley Charles in Vancouver. I'm just waiting for something to happen in Toronto. Both Montreal and Vancouver have struggled this year and the frustration seems to be building in those camps. Hopefully these problems have been solved with the release of the Charles and Grande.

FULL-TIME FANTASY LEAGUE

Full-Time: Vancouver's Soccer Show would like to invite you to play in our Fantasy Premier League called Full-Time League, the official fantasy league of Full-Time: Vancouver's Soccer Show. The winner takes home a Full-Time prize pack, which includes the coveted Full-Time scarf.

Last season, Mike Martignago took the Full-Time League title. Can you beat Mike this year? Feel free to invite your friends.

If you aren't already playing the game then you can register at
http://fantasy.premierleague.com

Once you have logged in and entered your team, click on the 'Leagues'
link you can find on the right of the page. Now enter the code
264927-56391 to join the private league.

Enjoy the game!!

TEVEZ

Carlos Tevez completed his move to Manchester City on a five-year contract. Tevez will earn a reported £150,000 a week in wages - and to Kia Joorabchian, who will take possession of £25.5m for the "owners" of Tevez he represents. Okay, all that money, and two things, what is Tevez wearing on his head? A knit head band or a weird toque? Secondly... Tevez is one seriously ugly dude.

SPORTSNET GETS IT RIGHT

Rogers Sportsnet will broadcast Canada’s quarter-final match this Saturday 18 July from the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Canada’s match will broadcast live on all four Sportsnet channels at 17.00 ET / 14.00 PT. The Canada-Honduras match is the first of four quarter-final matches at this year’s CONCACAF Gold Cup.

BLANCO REPLACES DE ROSARIO

Dwayne De Rosario decided to skip the All-Star game for TFC's CONCACAF Champions League match against Puerto Rico. A wise choice from DDR... I am happy that he is skipping the All-Star game to play for TFC, he did afterall decline on the opportunity to play for Canada at the Gold Cup, so why not decline for a match of lesser importance. If Dwayne decided to play in the All-Star game, it would simply have been a major kick in the teeth for both TFC fans AND Canadian soccer fans.

The full story is on DeRo skipping the All-Star game is here. DeRo will be replaced with the 2008 All-Star Game Most Valuable Player, Chicago Fire midfielder Cuauhtémoc Blanco.

BOSNIA REACTS TO BEGOVIC

According to translation experts (or guys on the internet), Bosnia is reacting with mixed emotions about Asmir Begovic after coming on with our radio show on Sunday night. One report states:

Asmir Begovic, goaltender for Portsmouth has again arrived at the center of attention for sports journalism in our country. This Trebinje-born player has recently promised Miroslav Blazevic that he will play for the national team of Bosnia & Hertzegovina, but he has clouded things with his announcement for one Canadian radio station stating how he still is thinking about Canada's national team!

As it is common knowledge, Begovic wore the jersey of the youth Canadian team, but according to the new rules of FIFA he has gained the right to change his sports citizenship.

We discovered that [he has] already "started" the procedure where he will change his sports citizenship and his declaration about how he wishes to play for Bosnia has already gone to FIFA. This has been confirmed to us by Munib Usanovic, general secretary of the National Bosnian Football team.

"Ten days ago, we talked with his father and with Asmir and he signed a declaration about the change of his sports citizenship, that is, he confirmed that he wishes to play for Bosnia. The completed documentation was sent by us to Zurich, and in the procedure is also the taking out of Begovic's passport" said Usanovic, who was surprised by Asmir's announcement on Canadian radio:

"I don't know what he means, but something is suspicious, considering that in recent days Begovic has not been answering the calls from our Federation."

It is certainly very confusing. On one hand, Asmir tells us that he hasn't done anything but spoken to Bosnia but insists he still wants to respresent Canada. On the other, they say that he has already begun the process of becoming a Bosnian national squad player. We'll try and dig more into this story and find out more.