The June 1st deadline for teams to submit their World Cup rosters came and went on Tuesday and there were some surprises, though not as many as on the day teams submitted their 30-man provisional rosters.
Italy's exclusion of Giuseppe Rossi, South Africa's snubbing of Benni McCarthy and England's omission of Theo Walcott stole the headlines on a day when Portuguese defender Pepe and England's Gareth Barry were deemed healthy enough to be selected.
In case you missed them, here are all 32 rosters.
Here are some other stories from this morning (and Tuesday) to get your day going:
BARCELONA MAKES CESC OFFER
FC Barcelona's quest to sign Arsenal star Cesc Fabregas has gone on for years, but now the Spanish champions have made a formal offer to bring back the one-time Barca youth player to the Camp Nou.
Barcelona has made an opening £29 million bid for Fabregas, an offer likely to be rejected by Arsenal, which has a higher price tag on its star playmaker.
CANNAVARO SIGNS WITH DUBAI CLUB
Italian national team captain Fabio Cannavaro has played in Italy and Spain, but will now add Dubai to that list after signing a shock deal with Dubai club Al Ahli on Tuesday.
Cannavaro will join Al Ahli on a free transfer after seeing a one-year deal with Juventus expire without a new offer from the Italian club.
PRE-WORLD CUP FRIENDLIES ROUNDUP
Portugal shook off its recent 0-0 embarrassment against Cape Verde with a comprehensive 4-1 win against Cameroon on Tuesday. The match was marred by a Samuel Eto'o red card.
The Netherlands disposed of Ghana, 4-1, in another high-profile friendly, while Australia edged Denmark, 1-0, in another battle of World Cup teams.
Costa Rica fell just short of the 2010 World Cup, but knocked off World Cup-bound Switzerland, 1-0, on Tuesday.
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What do you think of these developments? See Fabregas ending up with Barcelona this summer? Stunned to see Cannavaro head to Dubai? Think Portugal or the Netherlands are a darkhorse to win the World Cup?
Share your thoughts below.
Hahahahaha! So Rossi has officially missed out on 2 World Cups? Is this my birthday and Christmas present all in one? What a tart. I hope he watches on ESPN from his crib in Jersey.
And your point is ? Most Brazilians are of PORTUGUESE descent not of Austrian-Jewish descent. My mom is part Portuguese I know the history of Brazil and Portugal. 😛
A VERY BIG APOLOGY TO IVES. JOHNNYCOUGAR (SEE BELOW) HAS THE CORRECT SOURCE. I DID PRINT THIS OUT FOUR YEARS AGO FROM IVES’ SITE BUT IT LOOKS LIKE A LINK TO ESPN. ITS BEEN PINNED TO MY BULLETIN BOARD FOR FOUR YEARS.
Just like Rossi who was born here but has two Italian parents and who has trained in Italy since he was a teen.
I’m with you on Benny, just using him as a point to show how we welcome players on the other side but when it happens to us, we get pissed.
shut up both of you Uruguay is a hugeee sleeeper team in the world cup costa rica is terrible..
I agree with you. I still don’t understand how Costa Rica let such opportunity slip away.
I still wish that Costa Rica would have went to the World Cup instead of Uruguay, they could have represented the Concacaf region and they are a good team that is young also. It would have been nice to see Bryan Ruiz in the Cup also since he’s a rising star!
I heard that as of this morning, Giovanni dos Santos might drop out of the Mexican National Team. It seems that he’s angry at the coach (Aguirre) for not selecting his brother, Jonathan.
I have to wonder if, all things being equal between Rossi and someone else, the Italian manager chose to go with someone else because of the tone and content of that article. Divided loyalties and all…
He absolutely has. And going for solid tactics and experience is a big reason why they have been doing better. No Castillo, and less of Vela and the Dos Santos brothers has been one of his points of emphasis. The Mexico-based players have really returned the favor that he he extended to them last summer. It will be intersting to see who El Tri pick up after the WC as Aguirre will most likely be leaving Mexico once and for all.
lol. Oh capitano! Cannavaro!!