Michael Owen The general feeling in England was that the national team manager should be an Englishman if possible and I think Steve McClaren is a good choice. He has a great record, having worked his way through as a coach at Oxford, Derby and Manchester United before making the successful transition to manager with Middlesbrough.
Ronaldinho Before anything else, I would like to say I am very happy for winning the 2005/6 Spanish title. It was a season as wonderful as the previous one. Thank you for the Barça supporters who have always been standing by us. They deserve this victory.
Kevin Kuranyi On Monday afternoon in Berlin, before making the World Cup squad public, our national manager Jurgen Klinsmann informed each player individually as to whether they will be taking part in the World Cup or not. When Jurgen Klinsmann called me and told me that I was not to be included in the 23-man squad, my world fell apart.
Edgar Davids All of you at the Olympic stadium last Sunday: thank you for supporting the Suriprofs and the Surinamese people in need after the flood. So much warmth and togetherness is hard to come by else where. Like all of my team mates, I had a beautiful day. I’m sure all those present at the game –enjoying the typical Surinamese entourage- feel the same way too.
Claude Makelele Now the World Cup finals are really starting to approach with the names of the squads of the national teams announced. I feel honoured to be selected by the French coach Monsieur Raymond Domenech. It is a very good squad with a good mixture of young players and experienced ones. A few people have sad to me that the French have been generally overlooked by the tipsters and could be the surprise team.
Xabi Alonso Although I still don’t know for sure whether or not I am going to be fit to play in Saturday's FA Cup final, I am hopeful of making it in time. I trained with the squad yesterday and should do so again today. I planted my foot badly and fell over against Portsmouth last weekend and twisted my ankle but scans showed that it was nothing too serious and I have been able to train