Chelsea's Salomon Kalou, Real Madrid's Royston Drenthe and Liverpool's Ryan Babel will be among the stars representing their countries at a pre-Olympic football tournament in Hong Kong.
Chelsea's Salomon Kalou celebrates scoring against Manchester City during their English Premier League soccer match at Eastlands stadium in Manchester, northern England, April 5, 2008. [Agencies] |
Other top names include American teenage phenomenon Freddy Adu and Feyenoord's Roy Makaay, whose exploits for Bayern Munich made him one of Europe's most feared strikers.
They will play for their countries, the Netherlands, Cameroon, USA, and Côte D'Ivoire, at the ING Cup from 30 July to 2 August as their final preparation for the Beijing Olympics.
"Olympic fever is truly kicking in, so we expect great crowds at the Hong Kong Stadium on both days," said Hong Kong Football Association chairman Brian Leung.
"The Netherlands, Cameroon, USA and Ivory Coast will be among the strongest teams in China and feature many world-class players."
The Dutch are one of the favourites for the Olympic crown, having won back-to-back UEFA U-21 Championship titles in 2006 and 2007.
As well as Drenthe and Babel, Foppe de Haan's squad features Valencia's Hedwiges Maduro, PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal, and Makaay, who is included as one of their three over-age players.
Cameroon's Indomitable Lions have a strong pedigree in the Olympics, having won gold at Sydney 2000. This year's squad includes 20-year-old Alex Song, one of Arsene Wenger's exciting young talents at Arsenal and the nephew of Rigobert Song, Cameroon's most capped player.
Defenders Andre Bikey, whose impressive performances for Reading led to his inclusion in the senior squad for the CAF African Cup of Nations, is also included.
Côte D'Ivoire's best-known player is 22-year-old Kalou, who has played the last two seasons with Didier Drogba, his national captain at senior level.
One player who could prove to be a star of the Olympics is 19-year-old American Adu, who joined Portuguese club Benfica last August.
