Vogts targets friendly with England
Wednesday, 24 April 2002 12:43New Scotland manager Berti Vogts is eager to arrange a friendly with a quality side, and has Sven-Goran Eriksson's England in his sights. The former German coach is determined to field a strong, new look Scottish side against class opposition before he heads into the 2004 European Championship qualifying campaign.
Vogts admits his more immediate aim is fixing up a date against England while possible matches against Argentina and Brazil could be in the pipeline before their first qualifying match with the Faroe Islands on September 7. "I'm looking for strong teams for matches, maybe we can play a friendly against England and we are looking at Italy", said Vogts.
Vogts is set to play a major role at the UEFA Congress in Stockholm as part of the joint Euro 2008 bid team from both Scotland and Ireland. With Vogts' native country, Germany hosting the 2006 World Cup, he is set to put his weight behind the joint Celtic bid. The German has already taken a light hearted side-swipe at other competing bids which include a joint Austria, Switzerland bid and a four-way Scandinavian bid including Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland.
"I'm so happy I can help football and I'm sure that we have the best supporters in the world with their passion for the game, said Vogts. "Also we have the biggest stadium and I'm sure footballing fans will want to come to a footballing nation, not a skiing nation".
The new campaign logo was designed by eight-year-old Robbie Hutt from Inverness and was unveiled in Dublin by the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Ireland goalkeeping legend Packie Bonner. But question marks over Ireland's commitment to the bid remain with Mary Harney stating her opposition for a new national stadium in the country.
Filed by James Shortt
