<div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.24.1.1/79965?ns=guardian&pageName=The+Fiver+%7C+Enough+to+send+the+entire+United+States+of+America+into+an+e%3AArticle%3A1752085&ch=Football&c3=GU.co.uk&c4=Football%2CSport&c5=&c6=Paul+Doyle&c7=12-May-29&c8=1752085&c9=Article&c10=&c11=Football&c13=The+Fiver+%28series%29&c25=&c30=content&c42=Sport&h2=GU%2FSport%2FFootball%2F" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/signup/2010/mar/30/1" title="">Click here to have the Fiver sent to your inbox every weekday at 5pm, or if your usual copy has stopped arriving</a></p><h2>GET SHIRTY</h2><p></p><p>The Football Association today insisted that nothing should be read into the shirt numbers assigned to England's Euro 2012 squad members. In spite of that, or perhaps because of that, much ink has been devoted to reading various meanings into the shirt numbers, with many suggesting, for example, that those wearing 1 to 11 will start the defeat to France on 11 June, which in turn suggests that the No10, Wayne Rooney, plans to stick two fingers up at his two-game ban.</p><p></p><p>Those seeking spurious omens will tremble at the news that Rob Green, whose last contribution to a major tournament was to send the entire United States of America into an epic giggle fit, has been awarded No13. Similarly, some may fret that Ashley Cole will wear No3, which is considered an unlucky number in certain Arabic countries, while Frank Lampard will wear No8, which is considered unlucky in rural Sri Lanka, and $tevie Mbe will wear No4, which is considered unlucky in some parts of China, though not in Shanghai, where 'four' is a synonym of fish. No6 will be worn by England's Brave John Terry, who is considered a harbinger of woe in many parts of England.</p><p></p><p>Gary Cahill will wear No5. As you know, 'five' is considered a bringer of joy and enlightenment everywhere. Oh.</p><p></p><p>In reality, of course, all the number allocation tells us is what we already knew: that Roy Hodgson is a conservative coach. Uefa limits squad size to 23 players but – and the Fiver has not bothered checking this – does not demand that they wear numbers between 1 and 23. Hodgson could have spiced things up with an 88 here or a 69 there, or given Stewart Downing 72 in homage to the number of shots the winger had this season without scoring. But instead Hodgson stuck to convention, though was not no-nonsense enough to simply assign the numbers alphabetically. All of which means this story is at least 441 words longer than it needed to be.</p><p></p><p>Elsewhere on the continent, other managers grappled with trickier problems to solve than whether to give James Milner No16. In France, for example, d-Day arrived for Laurent Blanc, who had to trim two players from his provisional squad to settle on a final 23. With a heavy heart he decided to prune Yoann Gourcuff, the gifted No10 with whom he won Ligue 1 in 2009 but who, since then, has been playing like a No2. Meanwhile, Cesare Prandelli has failed in his quest to find 23 Italian players totally untouched by mentions in the country's latest alleged match-fixing guff and so has included the under-investigation Leonardo Bonucci in his Euro 2012 squad.</p><p></p><h2>QUOTES OF THE DAY</h2><p></p><p>"Arsenal love him and that's a great incentive to stay. Arsenal are a fantastic club. They have no debts and Robin is idolised there" – Robin van Persie's mother Jose.</p><p></p><p>"Arsenal showed faith in Robin when he was going through a lean time, so we should not repay them by thinking about other clubs. Our home life and our children are happy in London" – RVP's wife Bouchra. So, Manchester City it is.</p><p></p><h2>FIVER LETTERS</h2><p></p><p>"Wolves defender Stephen Ward has said today that the appointment of Stale Solbakken as manager should give them the 'freshening up' they need. Is this the first in a long line of such puns by the obviously bored Wolves players? Perhaps the new manager may look to bring in a few Norweigians from Molde?" – Rob Bartlett.</p><p></p><p>"Am I the only one who read 'Paul Jurdeczka' for 'Phil Jagielka' (yesterday's quote of the day)? This means a couple of things: I need to get out more, and England may not have the right man to shore up their defence. What? Oh …" – Iain Miller Smith.</p><p></p><p>"Adrian Barrowdale worried in Friday's letters about what lurked behind the mysterious Third Bullet at the foot of the email edition. The magic known as View Source reveals that there lies a malformed link to Google+. So nothing at all really, Adrian" – Steve Allen.</p><p></p><p>Send your letters to <a href="mailto:the.boss@guardian.co.uk" title="">the.boss@guardian.co.uk</a>. And if you've nothing better to do <a href="http://twitter.com/TheFiver" title="">you can also tweet the Fiver</a>.</p><p></p><h2>BITS AND BOBS</h2><p></p><p>Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Oleh Voloshyn claims allegations of r@cism against the country levelled at it in a Panorama documentary are an "invented and mythical problem" and that Ukraine "is one of the leaders in Europe" in r@cial tolerance. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isueFVyxLMU" title="">Judge for yourself</a>.</p><p></p><p>New Liverpool director of communications, Dave Whelan, claims Wigan boss Roberto Martinez is holding further talks about the Anfield vacancy right about now.</p><p></p><p>Italian PM Mario Monti has wondered aloud whether football in the country should be suspended for two to three years after the latest match-fixing allegations. "It is not a proposal by the government but a question I am asking," he posed.</p><p></p><p>Tonight's Euro 2012 warm-up game between Italy and Luxembourg in Parma has been called off after a 5.8 magnitude earthquake hit the northern region of Emilia Romagna this morning.</p><p></p><p>Goalkeeper Steve Simonsen, who missed the decisive penalty in Sheffield United's League One play-off final shoot-out defeat to Huddersfield, has been cut by the Blades. "Since Saturday in particular I've had nothing but kind words," said Simonsen.</p><p></p><p>And, oh yeah, Eden Hazard is taking his talents to South Ken. Well, Chelsea. The self-publicising tease.</p><p></p><h2>STILL WANT MORE?</h2><p></p><p>AC Jimbo and assorted intelligible talking heads from the football podcasting world <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/audio/2012/may/29/euro-2012-football-daily-podcast-preview" title="">recorded a special Euro 2012 Daily edition for your pleasure last night</a>. And if you've ever wondered what Philippe Auclair, Michael Cox and Raf Honigstein looked like, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/video/2012/may/29/euro-2012-live-video-preview" title="">you can watch a bonus video from the recording too</a>.</p><p></p><p>EEG recordings, the Cartesian cogito and the science of human consciousness: it can only be <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2012/may/29/wayne-rooney-answers-questions" title="">Jonathan Wilson on whether footballers know what they're really doing</a>.</p><p></p><p>From player of the season to the best protest, via La Liga's quotes of 2011-12: please be upstanding for <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/may/29/the-sids-2012-la-liga" title="">the Sids 2012</a>.</p><p></p><p>And readers of a Turkish persuasion have mobilised in the European goal of the season poll. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/poll/2012/may/28/european-goal-of-the-season-poll" title="">Anyone want to challenge their current superiority</a>?</p><p></p><h2>SIGN UP TO THE FIVER</h2><p></p><p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/signup/2010/mar/30/1" title="">Want your very own copy of our free tea-timely(ish) email sent direct to your inbox? Has your regular copy stopped arriving? Click here to sign up</a>.</p><p></p><h2><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luOtzkhmrA0" title="">DON'T EVER CHANGE, ANDRIY</a></h2><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/pauldoyle">Paul Doyle</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our <a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html">Terms & Conditions</a> | <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds">More Feeds</a></div><p style="clear:both" />
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