Arsenal as a footballing body is a branch of a tree called the English FA and the FA is also a branch of UEFA. The general tree that covers them all is that organization that was formed in 1904, FIFA. If Blatter decides tomorrow that all goalies in the game must wear pink, there’s nothing that Wojciech Szczesny can do about it even if he has tweeted that he hates the jersey colour.
Sepp Blatter became the boss of football’s governing body on the 8th of June, 1998 but one of my fondest memories as a kid was watching the first game of the World Cup between Brazil and Scotland on my birthday on the 10th of June, 1998. Cesar Sampaio scored a brace in that game but Arsenal legend Emmanuel Petit scored the final goal that won France the cup. 4 years later, the cup was co-hosted for the first time in Japan and Korea but my memories of my country in that tourney are not fond at all. Nike were the first to create a disaster by releasing a lemon green jersey that had a horrible view under the Sun. Nigeria didn’t even help matters by finishing at the bottom in a group that contained Argentina, England and Sweden. The star of the tourney was Ronaldo but Oliver Ganges Kahn surprised everyone by being the first goalie to make it into the World’s top 3.
In 2006, my country missed out but the highlight of the tournament involved Materazzi and the Pope of football, Zinedine Zidane. Last summer, the World Cup came to Africa for the first time and Nigeria messed up again by losing out in a group that contained Argentina, Korea and the modern day Spartans. The Aliens from Planet Barcelona infested the Spanish National team and used their mutant powers to win the tourney. Before the World Cup was played, we were told that the next edition was to be hosted in Brazil and I plan to visit the country for the tourney whether Nigeria qualifies or not.
In recent times, there have been dark clouds shrouding FIFA over claims of bribery and corruption. We all know that David Beckham, David Cameron and a host of others were the ambassadors for England’s World Cup 2018 bid but they lost out to Arshavin’s Motherland Russia. I really loved the catch phrase the English chums used,
“England United….The World Invited”
The 2022 World Cup was to be hosted outside Europe thereby making countries like America, Australia and Qatar to make bids for hosting rights. Qatar won the bid to host the tourney in their hot land but claims are now emerging that Asian Football Confederation’s president Mohammed Bin Hammam literally bought the tournament for Qatar. He has denied these reports but he has been banned from participating in any footballing activity pending further investigation of the case. This now means that Mr. Blatter will be unopposed in the forthcoming election that is supposed to take place next month. Another FIFA figurehead that has come under the spotlight for the wrong reason is CONCACAF’s president Jack Warner. Jack Warner has also been suspended over allegations of corruption filed against him.
There are emerging tales that Warner and Bin Hammam paid up to $40,000 to Carribean officials for votes in the forthcoming presidential elections. I watched an interview on Warner in EuroSport News so I was able to get a few words from the boss of football in North America.
Warner says,
“I’ve said this before; you haven’t seen anything yet because at the end of the day, Blatter must be stopped and if he believes that he has Blazer as his ally. The same Blazer that has charged me has never spoken to me, never called up an executive council meeting, never called up a meeting of the emergency committee. Blazer is an employee and I’ve never seen any documents yet. The accuser is questioning me with nothing”
UEFA chief, Platini was also asked a few questions about what he feels about the turn of events in World football’s governing body and he says that it will be a massive blow for football if the allegations are true. Platini has made some reforms in his own European football governing body which include adding 2 extra referees on each line to prevent goal line errors, giving England and Spain 3 automatic Champions League group stage slots because of their outstanding performance in the tourney and changing the previously mediocre UEFA Cup to the more exciting Europa League.
I don’t know why all these things are happening to our beautiful game but I sincerely hope that they get their acts right and sort every issue because the ramifications won’t be nice.
To the Arsenal side of life, 4 youngsters have become free agents because AW decided that they were surplus to requirements at the club. I’ve seen 2 of these youngsters play before while I’ve seen the other 2 in Football Manager. Mark Randall is the most prominent name in the list of players has been given the boot by Arsenal. The 21-year old bloke that was born in Milton Keynes joined Arsenal in 2005 but I doubt if he has made up to 5 appearances for the club. While at Arsenal, he has made loan appearances for Burnley (2007/08), MK Dons (2009/10) and Doncaster (this season). The only game I could remember watching Randall was in that Carling Spoon defeat to Burnley in 2008 in a game that’ll be remembered for Bendtner’s profligacy. Good luck to the youngling as he searches for a new club. I’m pretty sure that he’ll fit into a npower Championship side because he has Championship experience.
The second name in that list shares the same name with the Hollywood actor that starred in Mission Impossible and The Last Samurai, Thomas Cruise. The youngling didn’t make any senior league appearance for Arsenal but played his only Arsenal game I can remember when the Gunners visited Georgios Karaiskakis to play Olympiakos in the Champions League group stages. Youngster Kyle Bartley also made his first appearance in that game but he’ll still be an Arsenal player. The other 2 players that make up the list are Roarie Deacon and George Brislen-Hall. I have no idea how those blokes look like but I know that Deacon is a chocolate skinned bloke because I manage my Reserves in Football Manager 2011. Good luck to them all as they ply their trade with new employers in the near future.
Carlos Alberto Garrido Vela is one of the most cultured strikers you’ll ever see. He has a very sweet left foot that’s skilled in the art of chipping goalies. Since his move from Chivas Guadalajara in 2005, he hasn’t played much due to work permit issues so he was loaned to clubs in Spain to get some games under his belt. He finally got his chance to play for his club almost 4 years after he was bought and he gave the Gunners a night to savour in the 6-0 win against Sheffield United where he sealed a hattrick. Last season, he featured in the Carling Spoon and played a lot of games on the left hand side because of AW’s new 4-2-3-1 formation and hasn’t been too impressive there. This season he has made few sub appearances and scored 3 goals but as time went on his chances of playing for Arsenal reduced from slim to none thereby making AW to hand him a temporary switch to West Brom where he has impressed. As expected, West Brom came to Arsenal for an enquiry but AW has told them that the young Aztec Warrior will be part of his plans next season.
This summer all attention will be turned to International football but every player in Arsenal’s squad will go home and watch the games from their plasma screens because the 2 tourneys being played won’t be of any importance to them. Wilshere would’ve been involved in the Under-21 tournament that takes place in Denmark but he has been withdrawn. The other tourney that will be played this summer is the Copa America 2011 that will be played in Argentina. As a Hispanic side Mexico is eligible for the tourney but AW has told the Mexican FA that Vela won’t feature for them in the tournament because he wants the young Aztec Warrior to go through the preseason with the rest of the other blokes in the squad.
In other news, Swansea has entered the record books as being the first Welsh team to play in the Premier League. A hattrick by former Chelsea reject and speed merchant Scott Sinclair helped them in their surge. Phil Dowd also awarded them 2 penalties but this time they were well deserved unlike the horror outing he put up at St. James Park in February.
That’s all for today.
Since we’re in the offseason break, Gooner Daily would appreciate any guest writer that would like to share a thing on two with the Arsenal World through the blog so if you’re interested with sharing your article, click on my contact page to see how you’ll be able to get to me. I’ll appreciate it if the articles will be sent through email.
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The sentence of the day comes from Arseblogger,
“Arseblogger: Have you ever noticed how many of our players can accommodate the arse? In their name I mean……..Cesc fabregarse, Andrei Arseshavin, Thomarse Vermaelen, Bacary Sagnarse, Nicklarse Bendtnarse, Lukarse Fabianksi, Emmanuel Eboue…..No, wait, he is an Arse”
This was published in his post on the 26th but I just wanted to share it with the Arsenal fans.
A club that’s managed by Arsene Wenger.
Sayonara
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