Well, Ireland have qualified for the European Championships next summer after beating Bosnia-Herzegovina 2-0 at Lansdowne Road last night.
Two goals from Stoke’s Jon Walters put the team through to the finals in France next summer. The first a fairly generous penalty, the second a lovely volley at the back post. Obviously it’s very pleasing for all the fans, and I’ll admit that despite my crotchety outlook on international football in general I watched it last night and enjoyed it.
Sure, there was part of me that was happy that Chelsea’s goalkeeper conceded twice and hoped that it might further dent his confidence domestically, but mostly it was good to see Ireland win. The dressing room celebrations afterwards were pretty amusing with barrel-shaped Superman really adding something to proceedings.
Also, I can’t have been the only Arsenal fan to have watched the game and thank all the mercies that we never signed Emir Spahic. I know the links with him were pretty spurious at the time, probably more to do with an agent talking us up as a potential destination in order to boost the profile of his client, but can you imagine how many red cards he’d have had in the Premier League?
I’m surprised he doesn’t play with a flick-knife in his boot, knuckle-dusters on each hand, and a cutlass inside his shirt just in case things get really tasty. He’s like a footballing Begbie (NSFW language on that one), and he was very lucky to last the 90 minutes. I mean, we all like a player with a bit of bite, there’s room for aggression and the rest, but this guy wouldn’t have lasted any time at all.
The last two qualifiers take place tonight with Slovenia facing Ukraine, and a very tasty game between Denmark and Sweden with the Swedes leading 2-1 from the first leg. Can The Greatest Striker That Ever Lived step up to the mark and send the Danes through, scoring a late goal before whipping off his shorts, and mooning at the crowd, a perfectly placed O tattooed on each butt cheek an innovative way to promote his new sponsorship deal with OXO? We shall see.
After that, and the return of the rest of our crew from international duty, we can then assess the fitness, get ourselves up and running again in the Premier League etc, and we don’t have to worry about another Interlull until next March, which is quite nice.
Meanwhile, there’s been more from Arsene Wenger on the subject of doping in football. The manager has called for the system to be overhauled, and from what he says in this new interview after the comments he made in his L’Equipe interview, there’s little doubt that he views the checks in place at the moment as inadequate.
He was asked he if he’d ever witnessed doping him himself, and had this to say:
Personally, no. I recently made statements that I never doped or try to dope anybody in my career and it helps me to sleep much better than if I had done it. Did I witness some strange things during my career? I say, without any doubt, yes.
There’s always a big difference between having suspicions and proving it and that’s why I’m not in a position where I can make a statement, ‘I’m sure that he doped.’ You have heard about things, I have heard about things, even players say it, but what you want is that the control is better than it is done today.
He wants blood tests, because:
Urine checks are superficial and not deep enough to say absolutely sure that we have no doping problem in football.
And suggests that the system itself is set-up in such a way that teams, if they wanted to, are more likely to get away with doping than be caught:
For example, now you have three doping tests after the game. If one of the players is doped, the result of the game is not changed. You need two to be doped to have a result of the game changed but if you test only three, it is nearly impossible that you catch a second one.
If you missed it, there was a good piece by Daniel Taylor in the Guardian on Sunday about Wenger’s comments, and football’s reluctance to deal with this issue in any meaningful way. After similar comments in 2013, Taylor says ‘the sport nervously shuffled on its feet and decided to look the other way’, and despite some suggestion the FA are going to talk to the Arsenal manager about what he meant, it feels as if the same is happening again.
Yet for Wenger to speak so publicly about this twice in quick succession suggests this is something he wants the game to take seriously, and for the authorities to do something about. The problem is that the bodies that run football have enough problems with their credibility as it is. Dodgy finances, high-level corruptions, tournaments being awarded to countries that should never host them, and I think that’s just the tip of the iceberg really.
These people have grown used to existing in their own personal fiefdoms, accountable to nobody, and their aim is to generate as much money as possible so they can get their slice. The impact of discovering a doping problem in football, how that would affect the reputation of the game and thus its value to sponsors and the corporate world is something I suspect they’ve been keen to avoid quite deliberately. Would you be surprised to discover that many, many things have been routinely ignored and/or swept under the carpet?
Whether that will change or not is anybody’s guess, but when a manager like Arsene Wenger suggests in so many words that there is a problem with doping in football, then they’re duty bound to investigate as thoroughly as possibly. My guess, however, is that those feet will shuffle some more, as they hope it will all just go away.
Maybe the onus lies on those who can investigate with freedom, not bound by some kind of duty to FIFA or UEFA. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out, and whether or not there might be a whistle-blower who can throw the whole thing wide open.
Finally for today, if you haven’t heard this week’s Arsecast Extra, James and I try to fill the international break gap with some vague Arsenal content, including Mathieu Flamini’s amazing story, ridiculous transfer links, and yet more discussion about evil covered in feathers. It’s all there for you. Listen here, or subscribe in iTunes or your favourite podcasting app by using our RSS feed.
Have a good one.
