Plenty of Arsenal interest in yesterday’s games and mixed fortunes for our men. Phillipe Senderos didn’t have the best game of his life but Switzerland beat Togo 2-0 to keep their hopes of qualification alive and send the Africans home. Emmanuel Adebayor was booked and very unlucky not to have been awarded a penalty after was upended in the Swiss box.
There was no Oleg for the Ukraine. What was the coach thinking? They beat Saudi Arabia 4-0.
In the final match of the day it looked like a shock was on the cards as Spain trailed 1-0 to Tunisia from early on. They huffed and puffed in the first half but did little of any note. At half-time they brought on Cesc and things changed. The Arsenal man had two great shots at goal and then the rebound from the third was stabbed home by Raul to equalise.
Cesc then set up Fernando Torres with a beautiful ball and the striker made it 2-1. Torres should have made it 3-1 when he was put through by Cesc again, this time a left footed ball behind the defence, but the keeper made a fine save. Torres scored a penalty to make it 3-1 and garner some praise as he’s now the tournament’s top scorer but there’s no doubt it was Fabregas that changed the game for Spain.
Afterwards Cesc was typically modest, saying:
My pass for our second goal? It’s easy with the pace and movement that ‘El Niño’ has.
He’s being rightly praised in the Spanish press with El Mundo saying he ‘revolutionised the game’ and Sport says he ‘led the fightback’ and that Spain’s victory came ‘at the hands of Cesc’.
You’d have to think he’s got to start for Spain now. Perhaps not in the next game as they have already qualified but once it gets to the knock-out stages. José Antonio Reyes was again an unused substitute.
Arsenal interest today sees Jens Lehmann in goal for Germany against Ecuador, a game in which the result could mean a lot to England. Ashley Cole is likely to line up against Freddie Ljungberg as they take on Sweden.
In other news Harry Redknapp reveals he’d like to sign Sol Cambpell, Thierry says France can cope without Zidane, Gilberto defends his portly chum Ronaldo and the club revealed a slightly blurry picture of the new kit which goes on sale next month.
And that’s the end of that.
