june 11th
19.49 – Congratulations to Robbie Keane as he becomes Ireland’s leading goalscorer in World Cup finals, with a grand total of….er…..2.
Ireland are through to the last 16 with a 3-0 win over Saudi Arabia. A not entirely convincing performance and it illustrated how badly Ireland need options on the left. Harte and Kilbane were both pretty shite again, and the minute Harte comes up against a really good player who runs at him time and again, it’s going to cost Ireland dearly. Personally I’d play Kelly left back, Duff left wing and let Quinn or Morrisson have a go up front with Keane.
In the light of their exit, Lauren continues his campaign against the Cameroon FA.
Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger will be delighted to hear Freddie Ljungberg’s injury is getting “..worse and worse”, but he’s likely to play tomorrow against Argentina.
Good luck to all the Gooners in action tomorrow…….
10.45 – France are out of the World Cup. A 2-0 defeat at the hands of Denmark sees France become the first holders to go out in the first round since Brazil in 1966. It’s a fairly illustrious group all the same, but one I’m sure France would rather not be part of. I mentioned earlier in the week that all didn’t seem right with the French camp, and without the creativity of Pires and Zidane, the internal squabbling has cost them dear.
You have ask the question why a team with the likes of Vieira, Petit, Henry, Trezeguet, Wiltord, Dugarry, Cisse and Djorkaeff were unable to score a single goal in the whole tournament. I would imagine that Roger Lemerre will be looking for a new job sooner rather than later.
That said, well done to Denmark, who played a very solid game today, and after so many defeats by France in recent years, this is some measure of revenge for them.
Also, it means that the Gooners will be able to get a decent rest this summer – so Paddy, Sylvain and Thierry, we’re sorry to see you go out, but now just head off to the beach for a couple of weeks, put your feet up and get ready for the new season……
PSV have admitted their interest in Arsenal’s/Not Arsenal’s Junichi Inamoto. This whole Inamoto thing shows how little Arsenal news there is, with many people claiming he’s all of a sudden good enough for a team that won the double without him even getting a sniff of Premiership action.
Ireland v Saudi Arabia later on….I can’t see Ireland losing, but with Mick McCarthy’s track record I can see us conceding a goal in injury time to give us a 2-1 win when 2-0 would see us through……
Fingers crossed.
