TORONTO -- A "devastated" Jermain Defoe will be watching the World Cup from afar, barring an injury call-up from England. Jamie Vardy Jersey . The 31-year-old Toronto FC forward did not make Englands main 23-man squad which features Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge, Danny Welbeck and Rickie Lambert at forward. Instead the Major League Soccer star was one of two strikers named to Englands seven-man standby list. Defoe said he felt sharp, was scoring goals and thought he had done enough to make the team. He added he had also been looking forward to representing his country in Brazil. "You cant expect anything but I did feel like I had a good chance of going because Ive been in most of the squads if not all the squads," he told BBC Radio. "So to miss out, I dont know, I just feel devastated to be honest," he added. Asked by the BBC if coming to Toronto was a mistake, Defoe said "Not at all." On a personal level, Defoe said it was difficult. But he wished the England team the best of luck. Toronto manager Ryan Nelsen said Defoe will remain with the MLS club unless summoned by England. "I was a bit surprised and disappointed for Jermain because he arguably deserves it," Nelsen said from Vancouver, where Toronto plays the Whitecaps in the second leg of their Amway Canadian Championship semifinal Wednesday. "Its a shame for him. But hes on the standby (squad) and you never know." Torontos practice was closed Monday. "Of course hes disappointed. Anybody would be," said Nelsen. "But theres nothing you can really say when a situation like that happens. Thats the managers decision. So hes just got to keep scoring goals, keep fit and maybe he gets that call-up." Toronto will be losing Brazil goalie Julio Cesar and U.S. midfielder Michael Bradley to the soccer showcase. Bradley will play for Toronto on Wednesday and then join the American camp. Cesar is expected to leave Toronto after the weekend game against the New York Red Bulls. Age and geography probably played against Defoe in his bid to go to Brazil. The first-team England strike force has combined for 51 international goals and 124 caps in Rooney (38 goals, 89 caps), Sturridge (3, 10), Welbeck (8, 21) and Lambert (2, 4). Manager Roy Hodgson also has attacking options in midfield in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Adam Lallana, Ross Barkley and Raheem Stirling, among others. "Certainly once you move into that front six position, I think we have a lot of options. I think theres a lot of possibilities," Hodgson told a news conference Monday in London. "A lot of players can play in different positions. And Id like to think thats that a very exciting group we have for those front six positions." Defoe, a veteran of the 2010 World Cup who has 19 goals and 55 caps with England, had figured in all but two of Hodgsons matchday squads before this. But Defoe, who has three goals in four MLS games, may not have been helped by playing overseas. According to Opta Sports, only four of the 114 players chosen for Englands last five World Cup squads played for non-English teams (Calgary-born Owen Hargreaves twice, David Beckham and Fraser Forster). Hargreaves played for Germans Bayern Munich, Beckham for the Los Angeles Galaxy of MLS and Fraser for Glasgow Celtic. "Jermain Defoes international career could be over," the Daily Telegraph said after the squad announcement. Veteran fullback Ashley Cole, a 33-year-old fullback with 107 caps, announced his international retirement Sunday. Hodgson had opted for veteran Leighton Baines and 18-year-old Luke Shaw over Cole. Monday was the deadline for teams to provide FIFA with their 30-man provisional squads. The final 23-man squads must be declared by June 2. Injuries could still change the face of the England squad with Defoe and West Hams Andy Carroll selected as cover for up front. The England squad heads to Portugal next week to begin World Cup preparations, before playing Peru at Wembley on May 30. Nelsen, who captained New Zealand at the 2010 World Cup, has been torn about Defoe and the World Cup. While backing his players skills on the international stage, he also wants his top striker wearing a Toronto jersey as often as possible. "If I was the England manager, I probably would pick him," Nelsen said last week. "Because you know what youre going to get with him -- you absolutely know what youre going to get with him." Defoe offers experience and a scoring touch off the bench. He has scored everywhere he has played. Hodgson opted for youth in most cases although he went with the 32-year-old Lambert up front. Rooney is 28, Sturridge 24 and Welbeck 23. Lambert, a late bloomer on the international scene, has two goals and four caps. The average age of the Englands squad is 26 years 117 days, more than two years younger than 2010 but older than 2006 (25 years 258 days), according to Opta. Barkley, Sterling, Luke Shaw and Jordan Henderson have a combined 14 caps. Eleven of the 23 players have 10 caps or less while only six have been to a World Cup. "Bags of attacking talent, much unproven but exciting nevertheless, blatantly short defensively through the centre," tweeted former England striker and current TV pundit Gary Lineker. The greybeads on the squad are Frank Lampard (35), captain Steven Gerrard (33) Phil Jagielka (31), Lambert (32) and Ben Foster (31). Youngsters include Sterling (19), Oxlade-Chamberlain (20), Henderson (23), Phil Jones (22), and Jack Wilshere (22). After the Portugal camp, England flies to Miami for warmup games against Honduras and Ecuador before opening the World Cup on June 14 against Italy. England is in a group with Costa Rica, Italy and Uruguay at the summer tournament in Brazil. The England standby list also includes uncapped defenders John Stones (19) of Everton and Jon Flanagan of Liverpool, less than a year after featuring for England in the U20s World Cup in Turkey last summer. Flanagan is the nephew of Toronto FC defender Bradley Orr. The other standby players are Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy and midfielders Michael Carrick and Tom Cleverley of Manchester United. Raheem Sterling England Jersey . -- Mixed martial arts fighter Cristiane Justino Santos has been suspended and fined for testing positive for steroids. Danny Welbeck Jersey . No pretty goals on this night, just get to the front of the net and fight for a chance.MONTREAL - So close and yet so far. That was how defenceman Josh Gorges felt after the Montreal Canadiens were eliminated from the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 loss in Game 6 to the Rangers in New York on Thursday night. It was a second trip to the Eastern Conference final for Gorges, who was there in 2010 when the Canadiens lost to Philadelphia after upsetting Washington and Pittsburgh in the first two rounds. His disappointment at bowing out again without reaching the Stanley Cup final was evident. "This harder to accept because I can see the window of opportunity closing bit by bit," said the 29-year-old Gorges. "The older you get, the more you realize how difficult it is. We were so close." At the start of the season, it was widely felt the Canadiens would be among the group of teams having to battle for the final playoff spots, but an 11-3-1 spurt down the stretch saw them finish with 100 points, good for fourth in the conference. Then they swept the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opening round of playoffs and upset their biggest rival, the first-place Boston Bruins, in a heated, seven-game conference semifinal before bowing out to the Rangers. More than one player noted when the playoff run was over that the team has a bright future, although coach Michel Therrien didnt want to think about next year so soon after a bitter defeat. "Its really tough talking about the entire season, because I know its like when you get close to achieving a goal, it hurts," he said. "It hurts more when youre close. "There are 29 teams this year that are going to be disappointed, and one team is going to be enjoying their season while winning the Stanley Cup. That is the purpose. But I look at the season and we made some big progress this year. Im proud of this hockey team. We battled hard through the regular season and we battled hard in the playoffs." The players are to have their exit interviews on Saturday and general manager Marc Bergevin will review the season with the media on Monday morning. There are likely to be changes. Bergevins priority will no doubt be signing star defenceman P.K. Subban to what could be a major multi-year contract. The 25-year-old who won the Norris Trophy in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign and who leads the team in ice time is due to become a reestricted free agent on July 1. Fabian Delph England Jersey. . Negotiations may be difficult, with Subban likely to end up among the leagues highest-paid players, even if a rival team doesnt make him an offer. Other potential RFAs are centre Lars Eller, who had a disappointing regular season but was second on the team in playoff scoring, late-season pickup and playoff surprise Dale Weise and forward Ryan White, who didnt see any playoff action. He must also decide whether to try to keep unrestricted free agents Andrei Markov, Brian Gionta, Thomas Vanek, Mike Weaver, Francis Bouillon, Douglas Murray and George Parros. Markov, a mainstay on the defence since 2000, is 35 and, while he is still a skilled and heady playmaker, has become slower on his skates. Its somewhat the same for Gionta, the 35-year-old captain whose points production is on the wane. Vanek has said repeatedly he will test the free agent market and Bergevin will need to decide whether to bid for him. Weaver, another late-season acquisition, is 36 but Bergevin may make the third-pair defenceman an offer because of his solid post-season play. He earned $1.1 million this season. Bouillons history with Therrien goes back to junior hockey, but the stocky defenceman is 38 and may have reached the end of his career. It would be surprising if the painfully slow Murray and little-used enforcer Parros were back. Decisions on defence will be influenced by young blue-liners who may be ready to be full-time NHL players, including Nathan Beaulieu, Jarred Tinordi and Greg Pateryn, who had 15 goals for the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs. Bergevin will also need to sort out his goaltending. When Carey Price was injured in the opening game of the conference final, Therrien turned to third-stringer Dustin Tokarski over back-up Peter Budaj. Tokarski played brilliantly and looks to have taken over the back-up job, but Budaj has a year left on a contract that pays $1.4 million. Players signed long-term include Price, Gorges, Alexei Emelin, David Desharnais and Max Pacioretty. The easy one will be signing a new deal with Therrien, whose two-year contract is up. Bergevin has already hinted that he will keep the 50-year-old coach. --- With files from Canadian Press sports reporter Bill Beacon. Wholesale NFL Jerseys Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys NFL Jerseys From China Cheap Nike Basketball Jerseys Wholesale Hockey Jerseys China Nike Baseball Jerseys Cheap College Jerseys China Cheap Football JerseysWholesale Jerseys Canada Wholesale NHL Jerseys Canada Wholesale Nike MLB Jerseys Canada Cheap NBA Jerseys Authentic Canada Stitched Soccer Jerseys Canada Cheap Jerseys Canada NFL ' ' '
TORONTO -- A "devastated" Jermain Defoe will be watching the World Cup from afar, barring an injury call-up from England. Jamie Vardy Jersey . The 31-year-old Toronto FC forward did not make Englands main 23-man squad which features Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge, Danny Welbeck and Rickie Lambert at forward. Instead the Major League Soccer star was one of two strikers named to Englands seven-man standby list. Defoe said he felt sharp, was scoring goals and thought he had done enough to make the team. He added he had also been looking forward to representing his country in Brazil. "You cant expect anything but I did feel like I had a good chance of going because Ive been in most of the squads if not all the squads," he told BBC Radio. "So to miss out, I dont know, I just feel devastated to be honest," he added. Asked by the BBC if coming to Toronto was a mistake, Defoe said "Not at all." On a personal level, Defoe said it was difficult. But he wished the England team the best of luck. Toronto manager Ryan Nelsen said Defoe will remain with the MLS club unless summoned by England. "I was a bit surprised and disappointed for Jermain because he arguably deserves it," Nelsen said from Vancouver, where Toronto plays the Whitecaps in the second leg of their Amway Canadian Championship semifinal Wednesday. "Its a shame for him. But hes on the standby (squad) and you never know." Torontos practice was closed Monday. "Of course hes disappointed. Anybody would be," said Nelsen. "But theres nothing you can really say when a situation like that happens. Thats the managers decision. So hes just got to keep scoring goals, keep fit and maybe he gets that call-up." Toronto will be losing Brazil goalie Julio Cesar and U.S. midfielder Michael Bradley to the soccer showcase. Bradley will play for Toronto on Wednesday and then join the American camp. Cesar is expected to leave Toronto after the weekend game against the New York Red Bulls. Age and geography probably played against Defoe in his bid to go to Brazil. The first-team England strike force has combined for 51 international goals and 124 caps in Rooney (38 goals, 89 caps), Sturridge (3, 10), Welbeck (8, 21) and Lambert (2, 4). Manager Roy Hodgson also has attacking options in midfield in Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Adam Lallana, Ross Barkley and Raheem Stirling, among others. "Certainly once you move into that front six position, I think we have a lot of options. I think theres a lot of possibilities," Hodgson told a news conference Monday in London. "A lot of players can play in different positions. And Id like to think thats that a very exciting group we have for those front six positions." Defoe, a veteran of the 2010 World Cup who has 19 goals and 55 caps with England, had figured in all but two of Hodgsons matchday squads before this. But Defoe, who has three goals in four MLS games, may not have been helped by playing overseas. According to Opta Sports, only four of the 114 players chosen for Englands last five World Cup squads played for non-English teams (Calgary-born Owen Hargreaves twice, David Beckham and Fraser Forster). Hargreaves played for Germans Bayern Munich, Beckham for the Los Angeles Galaxy of MLS and Fraser for Glasgow Celtic. "Jermain Defoes international career could be over," the Daily Telegraph said after the squad announcement. Veteran fullback Ashley Cole, a 33-year-old fullback with 107 caps, announced his international retirement Sunday. Hodgson had opted for veteran Leighton Baines and 18-year-old Luke Shaw over Cole. Monday was the deadline for teams to provide FIFA with their 30-man provisional squads. The final 23-man squads must be declared by June 2. Injuries could still change the face of the England squad with Defoe and West Hams Andy Carroll selected as cover for up front. The England squad heads to Portugal next week to begin World Cup preparations, before playing Peru at Wembley on May 30. Nelsen, who captained New Zealand at the 2010 World Cup, has been torn about Defoe and the World Cup. While backing his players skills on the international stage, he also wants his top striker wearing a Toronto jersey as often as possible. "If I was the England manager, I probably would pick him," Nelsen said last week. "Because you know what youre going to get with him -- you absolutely know what youre going to get with him." Defoe offers experience and a scoring touch off the bench. He has scored everywhere he has played. Hodgson opted for youth in most cases although he went with the 32-year-old Lambert up front. Rooney is 28, Sturridge 24 and Welbeck 23. Lambert, a late bloomer on the international scene, has two goals and four caps. The average age of the Englands squad is 26 years 117 days, more than two years younger than 2010 but older than 2006 (25 years 258 days), according to Opta. Barkley, Sterling, Luke Shaw and Jordan Henderson have a combined 14 caps. Eleven of the 23 players have 10 caps or less while only six have been to a World Cup. "Bags of attacking talent, much unproven but exciting nevertheless, blatantly short defensively through the centre," tweeted former England striker and current TV pundit Gary Lineker. The greybeads on the squad are Frank Lampard (35), captain Steven Gerrard (33) Phil Jagielka (31), Lambert (32) and Ben Foster (31). Youngsters include Sterling (19), Oxlade-Chamberlain (20), Henderson (23), Phil Jones (22), and Jack Wilshere (22). After the Portugal camp, England flies to Miami for warmup games against Honduras and Ecuador before opening the World Cup on June 14 against Italy. England is in a group with Costa Rica, Italy and Uruguay at the summer tournament in Brazil. The England standby list also includes uncapped defenders John Stones (19) of Everton and Jon Flanagan of Liverpool, less than a year after featuring for England in the U20s World Cup in Turkey last summer. Flanagan is the nephew of Toronto FC defender Bradley Orr. The other standby players are Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy and midfielders Michael Carrick and Tom Cleverley of Manchester United. Raheem Sterling England Jersey . -- Mixed martial arts fighter Cristiane Justino Santos has been suspended and fined for testing positive for steroids. Danny Welbeck Jersey . No pretty goals on this night, just get to the front of the net and fight for a chance.MONTREAL - So close and yet so far. That was how defenceman Josh Gorges felt after the Montreal Canadiens were eliminated from the NHL playoffs with a 1-0 loss in Game 6 to the Rangers in New York on Thursday night. It was a second trip to the Eastern Conference final for Gorges, who was there in 2010 when the Canadiens lost to Philadelphia after upsetting Washington and Pittsburgh in the first two rounds. His disappointment at bowing out again without reaching the Stanley Cup final was evident. "This harder to accept because I can see the window of opportunity closing bit by bit," said the 29-year-old Gorges. "The older you get, the more you realize how difficult it is. We were so close." At the start of the season, it was widely felt the Canadiens would be among the group of teams having to battle for the final playoff spots, but an 11-3-1 spurt down the stretch saw them finish with 100 points, good for fourth in the conference. Then they swept the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opening round of playoffs and upset their biggest rival, the first-place Boston Bruins, in a heated, seven-game conference semifinal before bowing out to the Rangers. More than one player noted when the playoff run was over that the team has a bright future, although coach Michel Therrien didnt want to think about next year so soon after a bitter defeat. "Its really tough talking about the entire season, because I know its like when you get close to achieving a goal, it hurts," he said. "It hurts more when youre close. "There are 29 teams this year that are going to be disappointed, and one team is going to be enjoying their season while winning the Stanley Cup. That is the purpose. But I look at the season and we made some big progress this year. Im proud of this hockey team. We battled hard through the regular season and we battled hard in the playoffs." The players are to have their exit interviews on Saturday and general manager Marc Bergevin will review the season with the media on Monday morning. There are likely to be changes. Bergevins priority will no doubt be signing star defenceman P.K. Subban to what could be a major multi-year contract. The 25-year-old who won the Norris Trophy in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign and who leads the team in ice time is due to become a reestricted free agent on July 1. Fabian Delph England Jersey. . Negotiations may be difficult, with Subban likely to end up among the leagues highest-paid players, even if a rival team doesnt make him an offer. Other potential RFAs are centre Lars Eller, who had a disappointing regular season but was second on the team in playoff scoring, late-season pickup and playoff surprise Dale Weise and forward Ryan White, who didnt see any playoff action. He must also decide whether to try to keep unrestricted free agents Andrei Markov, Brian Gionta, Thomas Vanek, Mike Weaver, Francis Bouillon, Douglas Murray and George Parros. Markov, a mainstay on the defence since 2000, is 35 and, while he is still a skilled and heady playmaker, has become slower on his skates. Its somewhat the same for Gionta, the 35-year-old captain whose points production is on the wane. Vanek has said repeatedly he will test the free agent market and Bergevin will need to decide whether to bid for him. Weaver, another late-season acquisition, is 36 but Bergevin may make the third-pair defenceman an offer because of his solid post-season play. He earned $1.1 million this season. Bouillons history with Therrien goes back to junior hockey, but the stocky defenceman is 38 and may have reached the end of his career. It would be surprising if the painfully slow Murray and little-used enforcer Parros were back. Decisions on defence will be influenced by young blue-liners who may be ready to be full-time NHL players, including Nathan Beaulieu, Jarred Tinordi and Greg Pateryn, who had 15 goals for the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs. Bergevin will also need to sort out his goaltending. When Carey Price was injured in the opening game of the conference final, Therrien turned to third-stringer Dustin Tokarski over back-up Peter Budaj. Tokarski played brilliantly and looks to have taken over the back-up job, but Budaj has a year left on a contract that pays $1.4 million. Players signed long-term include Price, Gorges, Alexei Emelin, David Desharnais and Max Pacioretty. The easy one will be signing a new deal with Therrien, whose two-year contract is up. Bergevin has already hinted that he will keep the 50-year-old coach. --- With files from Canadian Press sports reporter Bill Beacon. Wholesale NFL Jerseys Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys NFL Jerseys From China Cheap Nike Basketball Jerseys Wholesale Hockey Jerseys China Nike Baseball Jerseys Cheap College Jerseys China Cheap Football JerseysWholesale Jerseys Canada Wholesale NHL Jerseys Canada Wholesale Nike MLB Jerseys Canada Cheap NBA Jerseys Authentic Canada Stitched Soccer Jerseys Canada Cheap Jerseys Canada NFL ' ' '
