Steve Finnan injured, may not play for Ireland?

May not play for Ireland? That's ridiculous. I don't care how much he wants to play for his country, if he has even the slightest tinge of pain in his knee, he should not be allowed to play. I would understand if he was a 25-year-old, but he's not, he's 31. Not only that, but we signed him to a two-year deal this offseason and he should show his club the proper respect and not put himself at any more risk than humanly possible.

This type of crap really pisses me off and I don't understand why Rafa didn't ask him to retire from International duty when he re-signed him. If I were a manager of any football squad, I would make 30-years-old the mandatory International retirement age for my players and if they didn't like it then I would tell them to go waste some other clubs time, money, and effort by risking injury for their country.

In other news, apparently Steven Gerrard will be forbidden to play for England if painkillers are required. I'm not sure if that's what Stevie-G, Rafa, or Steve McClaren has decided, but whomever did, thank God. There's absolutely no reason for our captain risk further injury. Steve McClown got his country's squad in their current dire position and he should be the one to get them out of it, not any of the players.