Miller Retires from International Football

Scotland manager Gordon Strachan announced this today that the Whitecaps' Kenny Miller has retired from international duty in order to concentrate on his career at the club level.  Miller's decision has "immediate effect" meaning he will not be required to travel for the World Cup qualifiers against Belgium and Macedonia at the beginning of September.

Miller's Scotland career began with his international debut against Poland in April 2001 and it was the first of 69 caps he has earned in service of his country.  Miller's first goal came in a Euro 2004 qualifier versus Iceland in March 2003, but perhaps his most memorable goal for the Dark Blues was the one he scored for the Dark Blues in last week's 3-2 defeat to England at Wembley.  In all Miller has scored 18 times for Scotland leaving only Ally McCoist, Lawrie Reilly, Hughie Gallacher, Denis Law and the legendary Kenny Dalglish ahead of him in the list of Scotland's top scorers.  "Kenny is a talented player who gave the best of himself when he was on Scotland duty" said Strachan and that "he [Miller] has to come to the decision to help prolong his club career."

Whitecaps fans are well used to seeing Kenny Miller find the back of the net as his 7 goals puts him in second place in team scoring this season.  Miller has formed a dangerous and productive partnership with Camilo Sanvezzo and their combined 21 goals is the most of any partnership in MLS this season.

Now that Miller has retired from international duty and has a freshly signed contract extension in hand he can now focus on helping Vancouver earn a playoff berth in the competitive MLS Western Conference.

The Whitecaps next match is Saturday versus the LA Galaxy at 6:00PM PDT.

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