Good day to you, Arsenal news is very, very thin on the ground this morning. There’s not so much as a spurious transfer story from the Daily Mail. All they’ve got going is news of Redknappian a bid for Julio ‘The Beastly Overhead kick guru’ Baptista and news that both United and City, as well as Sp*rs, are bidding for Danish centre-half Simon Kjaer who for me has been the pick of the defenders on show at the World Cup so far.
So it’s to South Africa we go and staying with Denmark Nicklas Bendtner says he’d be very upset indeed if the Danes didn’t make the knockout stages:
I would be bitterly disappointed if we didn’t win. We can do it.
A quotation much in keeping with this World Cup. As exciting and interesting as Phil Collins. Yesterday saw France’s campaign come to an end, putting more or less everyone out of their misery. A harsh red card for Yoann Gourcuff meant they were never going to have enough to get past the hosts and yet another Arsenal keeper audition resulted in a goal. This time Hugo Lloris gifted the first goal to South Africa. Gael Clichy was a bit unlucky with the second, he had one of those ‘Where’s the ball gone?’ moments only to find it again just as their player whacked home number 2.
France got a late goal from Malouda, set up by Frank Ribery – the most overrated player in the world. I thank whatever gods there might be that we never signed him. Not just because of his Stuart Downingesque skills but if I want to look at a gargoyle for 90 minutes I’ll go stand outside Notre Dame. Honestly, I think the TV director was taking the piss with his constant super slow-motion replays of Ribery yesterday. Imagine we had replaced the dreamy Robert Pires with him. Doesn’t bear thinking about.
Diaby and Clichy played yesterday, I think they’ll be glad to get away from the debacle that has surrounded Domenech and everything else, and they’ll have had plenty of time to reflect on that during their economy class flight home, heh. Amy Lawrence writes about their World Cup disaster here.
Last night Argentina ensured the Greeks went out and apologies to any Greek readers but I can’t imagine the rest of the football world is too unhappy to see the back of such a defensive team. South Korea overcame Nigeria to be the second team to qualify from that group.
Today, of course, England expects. Will John Terry take his quest for revenge to the next level by accidentally scoring a last minute OG? I wouldn’t put anything past that man. You have to think England will be too good for Slovenia but then most people thought they’d be too good for Algeria and were quite wrong. They need to step it up to go through. The USA face Algeria and could go through with a draw if England don’t win. All the action at 3pm there.
Later on it’s Germany v Ghana, which could be a cracker, while Australia play Serbia. No Arsenal players on show at all today.
Back to Arsenal briefly and there’s some good news regarding Aaron Ramsey who is now running again after that abhorrent visigoth Shawcross snapped his leg in two. Slowly, slowly, and all that, there’s a lot of rehab to go through yet, but it’s encouraging news all the same.
And the AST has the low down on ticket sales, season tickets, club level renewals etc. It’s positive news, especially in the current climate, but the people spending that money will expect to see investment in the team and the issues we currently have addressed before the new season begins.
Finally for today those of you with iPhones will be glad to know that the Arseblog app has been given a bit of an update. Rocky’s original app went a bit Space Shuttle, crashing on start-up.
The reins have been handed over to Simon and that particular issue has been fixed. He’s also added a ‘suggest a feature’ button from within the app itself, so if you have any feedback or you think there’s something the app should contain just let him know. You can also get in touch via his website.
The app is available to download now via the iTunes app store. There is also an Android app available via the Marketplace thingy. Sorry for Blackberry users but no Blackberry genius has offered to make one so you can hunt him down and call him names. And Nokia rejected a homemade app, made via their website, for ‘offensive content’. Must have been a Sp*rs fan doing the checking.
Right so, till tomorrow.
