Worrying time for Newcastle as Ameobi and Best receive international call ups.
January 25th, 2011 | 12 Comments |
As an injury depleted Newcastle United hobbles it’s way through the middle part of the season, news came through that Leon Best has received his eighth international call up for the Republic of Ireland team.
The 24 year old hitman has been called for the squad for the Republic’s upcoming game against Wales on February 8th. This will be the first game in the inaugural ‘Carling Nations Cup’ to be held in Ireland. This comes fairly soon after the news that fellow striker, Shola Ameobi, has been selected for the Nigeria squad for a friendly match against Guatemala on February 9.
With Andy Carroll’s delayed return from a thigh injury, and Newcastle facing matches against and in form Blackburn team on the 12th, and a resceduled clash with Birmingham on the 15th (or possibly the 19th or 20th), this could be a worry for the already injury ravaged squad should the players pick up any knocks. If the worst were to happen, and both players were injured in some way, Peter Lovenkrands and Xisco would be the only remaining first team strikers. Current injuries include Steven Taylor (hamstring), Dan Gosling (knee), Alan Smith and Ryan Taylor (ankle and foot), Hatem Ben Arfa (broken leg), as well as the aforementioned Carroll. (more…)