Dudek Surprised to Be Off Polish Squad - New York Times: (also http://sports.bostonherald.com/soccer/view.bg?articleid=141199)
Jerzy Dudek was the man in front of the net who helped Liverpool win last year's Champions League final, saving two penalty kicks against AC Milan in the shootout to complete the comeback win.
Robert Pires was a key player in Arsenal's run to the final in this year's competition, where the team took the lead but eventually lost to FC Barcelona.
Both were left off World Cup rosters for this year's tournament in Germany.
''I rang my cousin, who told me I wasn't going,'' said Dudek, Poland's starting goalkeeper at the last World Cup. ''I thought it had to be joke. I thought I'd see on the news it was all a big joke.
''Days before (Poland coach Pawel) Janas announced the squad, we spoke and I was going to the World Cup.''
Pires, who played for France when the team won the title at home in 1998, missed the last tournament and apparently is out of favor with Raymond Domenech because the coach does not trust players born under the sign of Scorpio [my emphasis].
...
So,
criticising the manager's tactics has nothing to do with it then?
