Archive for World Cup
A thief or just a desperate captain?
Posted by: | CommentsLast night’s game between Les Bleus and Ireland was one of the most interesting games I’ve watched so far. Not necessarily because of the football, but more to do with the drama that came with it.
It was always going to be a tense match with the stakes raised by the possibility of an away goal win. But without a doubt, the entire population in Ireland is probably plotting what to do to our beloved Thierry Henry. Voodoo and witchcraft? Maybe. Public lynching? An option worth contemplating. There’s no denying that the emotion is raw.
Sometimes, football is a cruel game. The Irish players and their supporters are waking up today to an almighty hangover (or something) just to realise that last night was no dream. They were in fact robbed in front of hundreds of thousands of witnesses.
Unlike Diego Maradona who provoked the ire of an entire English nation 23 years ago (no one has forgotten the hand of God), Henry didn’t have the luxury of redeeming himself by ghosting past the entire Ireland team from one length of the pitch to the other to score a spectacular goal. Maradona set aside his antics with the ‘hand of God’ incident by reminding folks why he is considered by some to be one of the best players that ever lived on this planet. His solo goal was the most spectacular you’ll see anywhere and dwarfed any grief he would have got for his earlier transgressions.
Henry could only assume a low profile for the act of robbery he had just committed that ensured Ireland were kicked into touch.
As usual, the media hacks are suggesting that this single incident will blight his legacy. Sensationalism comes to mind with that claim there, but you can understand why Henry pissed off an entire nation.
But what could he do? Own up? The referee can’t give what he didn’t see – and it’s irrelevant to cite the use of replays on TV. Referees don’t have that luxury in that split second. Besides, hands up (no pun intended) anyone who wouldn’t do what Henry did if they could get away with it.
The Irish would have done it if it got them to South Africa.
Is ‘Psycho’ asking too much of Arsenal’s talent?
Posted by: | CommentsLast year, despite some high profile disappointments in the semi-finals of the FA cup and the Champions league, the biggest revelation for me was the emergence of Kieran Gibbs. This soft spoken teenager from south London was thrust into the limelight and forced to sink or swim following the injury of our first choice left back Gael Clichy.
I sometimes feel it’s very unfair as most sensationalists in the media and football establishment frequently choose to highlight his trip that led to Man United’s first goal in the 2nd leg of the Champions league semi-final. However, an honest and level headed assessment will conclude that Gibbs embraced and took on the responsibility he was given and performed admirably.
Not surprisingly, much more is expected of this young man, both for club and country. I’ve always felt that if he can get a solid run in the Arsenal team, then he will be well placed to claim a seat on England’s charter flight to South Africa next summer purely on merit. He already has his opportunity as the capable understudy to Gael who is out injured and his efforts are not going unnoticed by Fabio Capello and Stuart Pearce.
This far, all of Gibbs’s international outings have been for the England under 21 side, but this weekend the under 21’s coach ’Psycho’, decided that he wants Gibbs to play as a central midfielder. Gibbs did this against Portugal this past Saturday and ’Psycho wants more of Gibbs in this position when they play Lithuania tomorrow as he feels that the young lad can excel as a defensive midfielder.
One thing that jumps out following this scenario is how ridiculously talented the Arsenal squad is. Not only is Gibbs a formidable left back in his age category who is capable of holding his own in the Arsenal first team, he is clearly seen as a possible answer to England’s under 21 problems in the centre of the park.
While it would be more useful to employ Gibbs as left back since this is the preferred position that Arsene Wenger wants him in, his surprise inclusion in the centre of the park makes you wonder whether it will be good experience for him to bring back to his club position out left. Gibbs has played in midfield before and his attacking prowess is as encouraging as his defensive work.
So long as his outings with the England under 21 team builds on and develops his experience, I think Arsenal will benefit greatly. I can’t help but think though – What a talented and versatile squad Arsenal has, and I’ll be most definitely routing for Kieran to grab his seat on that charter flight down south.
A thought does jump out though – could Gibbs be a candidate to fill in for Alex Song when the Cameroonian briefly leaves us in January for Africa cup of nations duty? Not an obvious choice you would think, But more bizarre things have happened.
Van Persie taken out cold by Italian job
Posted by: | CommentsTrick question: How do you know that November is here?
Answer: Arsenal start accumulating injuries in a conspiracy to make November our worst month.
Whether it’s Gael Clichy and Niclas Bendtner being cheated by the spirits of Halloween and getting their injuries on 31st October; or whether it’s Diaby picking up a knock right at the stage where he’s gathering momentum; or whether it’s RVP being taken out by insalubrious forces – we know we’re in November when you see the sensationalist and panic ridden headlines about Arsenal being out of the title race.
If you had a scanner or some techy device that could pick up the mood of Arsenal fans around the world last night, you would have heard a collective and resounding ‘Foxtrot Yankee’ from all fans to, Uhm! Let me see – Giorgio Chiellini and his kith and kin, Sepp Blatter and his pack of corrupt FIFA punks, the Dutch FA for taking unnecessary risks by playing irrelevant friendlies, the staff nurse at the local hospital RVP was taken to for not tweeting the extent of the injuries and keeping us guessing. Take your pick, but Arsenal fans were eternally pissed off last night, and they probably will be for the rest of the season.
Looking at the video again, it’s hard to tell whether it’s the dangerous tackle that pisses me off more, or whether it’s the fact that Chiellini is being hi-fived by his team mates. That scene smirks of the disdain and impunity that Liam Ridgwell and his fellow thugs at Birmingham City showed after he took out Theo Walcott in a dangerous tackle hailed by the English establishment as ‘fit and proper’. If there was any evidence that the tackle on Walcott was dangerous, then the fact that he’s needlessly out of action for weeks on end speaks for itself.
As the cold light of day passes, I think Arsenal fans around the world will still be monumentally pissed off especially because RVP will miss a chunk of this season right when he has hit the form of his life because of a meaningless friendly match.
I would suggest that focussing on where he got the injury is a red herring. Players run the risk of getting injured when they step on the pitch. The more pertinent issue for me is that fans must and should have faith that we have a talented and technically astute squad that will adjust to playing without RVP.
No one will deny that at the moment, RVP is probably the most in-form and lethal striker in the world, especially because of his overall playmaking and contribution to the game. He recently pointed this out by suggesting he’s not an out and out conventional striker and he is playing well as a playmaker extraodinre, making our team more potent. We will no doubt miss what RVP brings to the team and his leadership and talent up front.
However, it would be unfair and premature to suggest that others won’t be able to step up to the plate and deliver. Of course the punditry and establishment will suggest that we’ll fall apart, but if there’s one thing we have that many other teams don’t have, it’s options, options, options. Not long ago (the beginning of the season really), most people wrote off RVP as not being able to perform the role of a lead striker. I think that conversation died its natural death. Equally, The team will find a way of getting the best out of the players assigned to step in and any conversation about RVP’s replacements struggling will also die a natural death and be buried in the Punditry cemetery right next to the first claim about RVP’s inability to shine.
The most obvious choice is Eduardo Da Silva who has played impeccably as a lead striker before for his country and previous club. Eduardo is as lethal a playmaker as he is an assassin in front of goal and there’s no question in my mind that the team will adjust sharpish to take advantage of Eduardo’s strengths.
We can only hope that the path to recovery for RVP is a short one. There’s no point speculating about how long it will take him to return until Colin and his medical team confirm this officially tomorrow. I’m sure Arsenal will spare no expense in providing RVP with the best medical care and rehabilitation in the world – but for now, we must and should have faith that Arsenal is not a one man team and the squad will stand up and be counted.
RVP can make himself useful meanwhile by spending some quality time with his young daughter Dina Layla, changing diapers, and occasionally massaging Bouchra’s feet.
Aftermath of International Break
Posted by: | CommentsThe second Friday of any international break is the day of the walking wounded. The day the quacks at London Colney know to expect all manner of knocks and knacks from the contingent of Arsenal International stars arriving back from all corners of the globe. Some like Carlos Vela are probably only just getting on a plane from the outback west of the Pacific. They know to expect him back in rural Hertfordshire a few hours before kickoff on Saturday match day.
This time round, the fallout from World Cup qualifiers include a couple of knackered ankles, and an assault on William Gallas. It shouldn’t stop big bad Billy G from playing against the Blues of Birmingham, but I think he would be miffed about losing a few teeth against the Pharaoh Islanders. Wenger did say though that we need to wait to hear from Arshavin and Bendtner, but it looks like most if not all of Arsenal’s 20 strong contingent sent out to the patriotic front are back without any major issues that would confine them to the physio’s waiting room.
You would expect that a home game against Birmingham would be an acceptable compromise for the different degrees of jet lag that will be abound. Arsenal signed off 2 weeks ago with a resounding 6-2 thrashing of Sam Allardyce’s Blackburn, racking up the 6th consecutive win. The priority tomorrow has to be to pick up where we left off and carry on with the head of steam we are building.
As much as Birmingham is seen as a “winnable” game, there is no room for complacency. IN previous seasons, our ability to gift points to teams such as Birmingham and those around them in the table cost us the title. To maintain a credible Premiership challenge, these are the sorts of games that we have to win, and that we have to win emphatically.
With one eye on the trip to Alkmaar early next week, Wenger also has some options in squad rotation. It would be more comforting for most fans though, if he started with the strongest team possible and after a good lead is established, he can rest some players and rotate a little bit.
Tomorrow’s game however, will be a fairly emotional affair. The last time we met Birmingham, Gallas threw his toys out of the pram and Martin Taylor pretty much succeeded in his attempt to sever Eduardo’s foot off his ankle. Eduardo won’t be playing tomorrow, but I’m sure our players will want to do the right thing and right the wrongs of two years ago by not dropping a single point to Birmingham.
And of course, let’s have a bit more of that Wengerball as delivered in a master class to Blackburn and Olympiakos.
Winning trophies for Arsenal comes first
Posted by: | CommentsAny season before a world cup sees all manner of players posturing for positions in their national team. The greatest show on earth is indeed a stage where no player worth his salt wants to be left out. South Africa 2010 is no exception, and we’re already seeing players who aren’t featuring regularly looking around for new clubs that will give them the opportunity to play regular football ahead of the summer tournament.
Wenger, who over the last period has been a stalwart defender of his youth development policy, has something to say to his budding Arsenal stars. The message couldn’t be more blunt.
“Win trophies for Arsenal before dreaming of the World Cup.”
The Professor feels consistency at club level is a prerequisite for a strong showing on the biggest stage of all next summer. He says:
“I am convinced it is important for the players to go to the World Cup, but as well I know that those who have a good World Cup are those who win with their clubs during the season. We have seen that before here , and so the most important thing is that they do well with the club and it puts you in a strong position confidence-wise for what follows.”
Following on from Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis’ declaration a few days ago that 2nd, 3rd or 4th position was not acceptable for a club like Arsenal, it is interesting to see how Wenger is applying more pressure on the team. 21st century football has this knack of being ruthless when it comes to impatience, but even Wenger and Gazidis know that the team have to deliver titles and show that the faith placed on them in the last few years is not misguided.
Self indulgence, 3 card Poll and dodgy academies
Posted by: | CommentsI’ve developed this habit of going into shut down mode during interlulls. Qualifications for International Tournaments and the circus surrounding them don’t do anything for me, and being 48 hrs away from the next Arsenal game is a welcome relief.
For this reason, I’m finding it hard to switch on any sports news channel or read the back pages because it’s inevitably full of narcissistic media talk being shoved down our throats. I’d hazard a guess that it’s something to do with England’s golden generation finally getting their chance to win the world cup and that Capello is the man to take them there, and that Wayne the Shrek Rooney, Steven GBH Gerrard and John ‘onest – we’re not cheaters in England Terry are the best thing in football.
Graham “I’ll give you 3 yellow cards” Poll on the other hand, suggests that we should not label Wayne Rooney a diver because it’s bad for his reputation and England cannot afford to have him go to South Africa as a licenced diver. It really doesn’t matter that he is, we have to preserve the reputation of our “best” player at all costs. It’s amazing sometimes that all that male bovine faecal matter can come from one individual. You do wonder though, whether it’s arrogance or vanity that stops such folks from seeing the hypocrisy and xenophobia jumping out from everything they say about football.
Sepp Blatter and Platini on the other hand have been flexing their collective muscle and unleashing punishments left right and centre. Ask Eduardo and Chelsea and they’ll tell you what it feels like. Blatter has decided to wade into the claims that there’s a dodgy outfit in Cape Town masquerading as a football academy. The President of the South African FA has accused Ian Wright and his 6 business partners who are premiership players for raping raw African talent. It doesn’t look like this one is going to go away as the debate on child trafficking in football is rife.
Ian Wright made an attempt to defend himself yesterday, though I think he should have just asked a lawyer to release a statement or something to that effect. I cringed at his response especially when he said he had stared into the eyes of these poor African kids and seen what they want and how bad they wanted it. He defends his investment by suggesting that the academy takes the kids out of poverty, gives them food and education.
Why is it that people always have to resort to “I’m saving the world from itself mode”. If all fails, roll out the poor, hungry, starving and malnourished kids in front of the camera and get the sympathy of the world. Wrighty should stand up and make an argument for his investment without resorting to unsavoury tactics of wheeling out the poor and starving African kids routine. We have enough of this misguided self righteousness from the international aid and development industry.
So, it does look like most if not all of our players will be back to London Colney as good as they left. Some great goals from the lads though and that should give them confidence. Rosicky also had a good game though I gather someone tried to assault him on the pitch with a tackle that was worth an arrest if anything.
It should be a good game Saturday, especially since Mark Hughes thinks that Adebayor is playing much better because “he now plays with good players around him again”. Is it only me or is Sparky suggesting that Arsenal are crap?
Self Righteousness and Pots Calling Kettles Black
Posted by: | CommentsTrick question. What do clergymen who preach against adultery yet have affairs with married women in their congregation; or sexual offenders who volunteer at a rape crisis centre; or colleagues who tell you that they can’t stand the sight of black people, but qualify their blatant racism by saying that “you’re OK though, you’re not like the others”; have in common.
Tip: Something to do with pots calling kettles black.
Hypocrisy should have been added to the list of cardinal sins. Clearly it seems that the current 7 deadly sins are not enough to capture the true injustice and nauseating impact of the collective actions of the England football team, the British media, and all supporters of the game who have conspired to defend the indefensible.
Only this past Friday, John Terry shamelessly stood in front of the media and bluntly served up a nerve twitching, stomach churning defence of the ”honesty and integrity” of the English footballing culture. I find it hard to fathom how his disgraceful account of the so called English non cheating culture has been allowed to go unchallenged. Coming from an England captain, this was the sort of offence that would have people taken out back, made to kneel down facing the wall and given a good hiding with a cricket bat.
If the above quote by John Terry wasn’t nauseating enough, the conspiracy by the media to cover up for what is blatant cheating is even more criminal. We didn’t even have to wait long, as the facade fell apart in the very next game against Slovenia.
1. Wayne Rooney, the one who stupidly proclaimed that he’s an honest player less than 48 hours ago, pulled the shirt of the Slovenian defender.
2. Rooney scissor tackled and injured the defender on his simulated fall.
3. Rooney flaps his wings like a battered bird in flight and looks to the referee as if to say “did you just see that”.
4. The referee awards a penalty in error.
If that isn’t cheating and deceiving the referee, what actually is?
Eduardo was only last week charged under Article 10 paragraph 1c of the UEFA disciplinary rules. For reference, the article states:
Article 10, paragraph 1c of the UEFA disciplinary regulations (misconduct of players)
“Players may be suspended for two competition matches, or for a specified period, for acting with the obvious intent to cause any match official to make an incorrect decision or supporting his error of judgment and thereby causing him to make an incorrect decision.
Does an England player have to maim an opponent for the English media to call it for what it is? Forget I asked, Martin Taylor’s tackle on Eduardo on February 23rd 2008 was really just a tap on the ankle, nothing much. It was unfortunate it nearly severed Eduardo’s ankle from the rest of his leg. Taylor is not that sort of lad they said, he’s an honest lad – really? It must be gut wrenching for him.
It’s sad and disappointing to listen to commentator after commentator and pundit after pundit shamelessly try to find an excuse to explain Rooney’s actions and the award of the penalty that wasn’t a penalty.
For over 10 days and counting, the media have relentlessly persecuted Eduardo for supposedly deceiving the referee, yet even after Terry’s and Rooney’s proclamations leading to the match, the same media and punditry machine can only look for excuses for their English darlings.
If you find some time, look up the definition of Xenophobia.
Tue 13th September 2011; 19:45, Dortmund