Mixed fortunes for the Arsenal players involved in yesterday’s World Cup games. Togo went 1-0 up against South Korea but were beaten 2-1 in the end. Didn’t see much of that game to be honest.
The main interest was in the France v Switzerland game and on the basis of that performance the French won’t be worrying anyone unduly. Thierry Henry struggled but received little or no service from midfield. Vieira looks absolutely finished, as done Zidane, and I really fail to see why there’s so much hype about Frank Ribery who looked very ordinary indeed.
Henry has said the French should have had a penalty, he might have a point, but substitute Johann Djourou could have won it for the Swiss right at the death had his teammate not tried to handle the ball into the net when he was waiting to plant the winning header.
At the back I thought Senderos did very well, one error apart, and it speaks volumes that Raymond Domenech is blaming the fact that the pitch wasn’t watered on their poor display. Team selection and tactics were more to blame and the French could easily have used Robert Pires out there yesterday.
In the late game Gilberto Silva didn’t play as Brazil notched up an unconvincing 1-0 against a decent looking Croatian side. When I say decent looking I mean they played decent football. I don’t mean I like their shirts.
Reports this morning suggest Sven is ‘annoyed’ that people criticised him for not playing Theo Walcott against Paraguay. The Sun says that if England are winning and comfortable against Trinidad and Toboggan then Theo will get a run out ahead of Wayne Rooney because Sven is afraid of being sued by Manchester United. Talk about throwing caution to the wind there!
In a quick look at other stories Jens Lehmann tells Tomas Rosicky to save some goals for Arsenal, Kolo Toure says the Ivory Coast can do better than they did against Argentina and Cesc is convinced Spain can do better this time because nobody actually expects them do anything at all for a change. They play Ukraine today and Cesc and José could feature (although perhaps not in the starting line-up).
In today’s other games Tunisia take on Saudi Arabia and Jens is in action again as Germany take on Poland which should be interesting for lots of reasons.
In transfer news I had a dream we signed a player called Bodman or Bodner or something. Does he exist?
Finally, we need some help for a young girl from Cork called Ciara Murphy. She was chosen by Arsenal to hand the match ball to the referee for the Champions League final. Unfortunately no pictures were taken as UEFA wouldn’t let her Dad accompany her to do it. If anyone has a picture of this can they please get in touch with me using the contact link above? Thanks.
