Yet Another Soccer Post
Good news on the soccer front. Arsenal is leading their league! Granted, we're only 5 games into a 40 game season, but still, we're on top. On top is a great way to begin the season. It is especially wonderful this season, our first without Henry. So many people questioned how well we would play without our leader. So far the answer has been, "Fanstinkingtastic."
Enough gloating. Well, not quite.
So, last weekend we played our big rivals, the Tottenham Hotspurs. (Don't ya just love soccer team names?) They go by "Spurs" for short - can't imagine why. Spurs went out and spent a ton of money over the summer, something like $30mill, to buy better players. Before last weekend, Spurs hadn't beaten us in 18 games (2 games per season, ...carry the two) which equates to around 9 years. I don't know, maybe there were some Cup games thrown in that mix, so maybe it was closer to 6 or 7 years. Regardless, it's been a long time since they've beaten us.
Given the relative youth of our side and the uncertainty around "the big Henry shake-up," everyone thought Spurs were due this year. Gooners (the affectionate name for obsessed Arsenal fans like me) all over the world held our collective breath, hoping that our team could maintain the great form they'd shown in the first few games of the season. Well, the Spurs scored first. Dang. But it wasn't over. My boys came back to score three goals in the second half.
We beat Tottenham 3-1. That is a solid thumping in the world of soccer. Where was the match played? At Tottenham's home stadium. We beat them in their own house, for the 19th time in a row! I literally stood up and jumped up and down in my house when they scored the third goal. I quickly sat back down when I realized that I was alone and sitting in the room where there are no blinds on the windows. No need to scare the neighbors.
Last night, Arsenal played the Spanish team Sevilla in a UEFA Champions League match. (UEFA = Union of European Football Associations. They organize a "cup" or "tournament" that runs the whole season where the best teams from each national league play against each other. It's almost like a Team World Cup, but only the top teams from each league qualify to play. Matches are spreadout through the whole season, with the final happening in May or June.) I mentioned Sevilla in my last soccer posting. They just had a young player die in the middle of a match. They are playing really well and were supposed to be one of the most formidable teams we play in our Cup schedule.
We trounced them 3-0. Trounced, I say.
What makes this even more unbelievable is the identity of the man leading Arsenal to these victories. A 20 year old kid named Cesc Fabregas. He's amazing. He's scored in almost every match in which he's played so far. That's quite an accomplishment, especially for his position. You see, Cesc plays in a really key position, but it's not necessarily one that leads to lots of scoring. It's his job to move the game along, get the ball down the pitch and get it to the guys who do the scoring. He is involved in most big plays, but usually he assists instead of scoring. He was so brilliant at this part of his job last year that he took the fans' pick as "Player of the Year" by a landslide. He got that accolade despite only scoring twice during the entire season. Twice! He's already scored 3 times (in regular league games, 6 when you count "cup" games) and it's only September. I know, things change. Guys get hurt or go through a dry spell. But I didn't think I could get any more impressed with this kid than I was last year. Boy, was I wrong. He blows me away each time I watch him.
The best part? Cesc seems to really like playing for Arsenal. As you may have surmised from his unusual name, Francesc Fabregas is not English, he's Spanish. There's always a suspicion niggling in the back of my mind that guys from European countries will want to play "at home" after they get enough experience in England. I guess I won't mind if he goes home at some point, but I really don't want that day to come for a long, long time. If he keeps on progressing as he has, he could literally be one of the greatest central midfielders this game has ever seen.
OK, done with that.
Oh, more good news about the Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger. The last time we spoke, I told you that I thought he would stick around at the club for a little while despite rumors that he was going to leave. Yeah, I was right. He signed a 3 year deal with the club last week. Whew!
Now the rumor mill is working overtime talking about the ownership of the club. Evidently, it is a public company in the sense that they sell "shares." But the majority of those shares belong to either one man or one family. This family has owned Arsenal for a really long time. There's some rich Russian dude who just bought a major block of shares to increase his stake to like 20% of the company. Everyone is speculating that he's trying to orchestrate a hostile takeover to get control of the club. The main owners have emphasized that they won't let that happen - the club doesn't need money so they don't need to sell any of their shares and lose control. I think that's true and can't imagine them willingly giving up their stake in the club. It could be bad news if the Russian dude gets control of the club.
That's a good segue to the news that Chelsea's manager, Jose Mourinho, just quit because he could no longer deal with their rich Russian owner. Chelsea is a really big club that have pumped massive amounts of cash into buying fantastic (and expensive) players over the last couple of years. They finished second in the league last year. Everyone thought that they would finish on top this year. But now that their manager is gone, I don't see that happening. You can't lose a manager and keep a bunch of spotlight-hogging superstars playing like a solid unit. Egos get in the way, especially when guys think they have to prove themselves to the new manager. No one knows where Mourinho will end up. But Chelsea has already appointed a new manager who people are speculating will only be a season-long temp.
More bad news for Chelsea? They play Manchester United on Sunday - the team who won the league last year. I expect Chelsea to crumble.
Up next for Arsenal? We play Derby, the second to worst club in the league. I don't want a cheap victory, but I certainly don't expect to lose to Derby. (By the way, it really annoys me that English people pronounce that word as "Darby.")
And... I think I'm done. You can all rest easy, no more soccer posts until next week. You made it through. It wasn't that bad, was it?
[and now a word from our sponsors...]
Enough gloating. Well, not quite.
So, last weekend we played our big rivals, the Tottenham Hotspurs. (Don't ya just love soccer team names?) They go by "Spurs" for short - can't imagine why. Spurs went out and spent a ton of money over the summer, something like $30mill, to buy better players. Before last weekend, Spurs hadn't beaten us in 18 games (2 games per season, ...carry the two) which equates to around 9 years. I don't know, maybe there were some Cup games thrown in that mix, so maybe it was closer to 6 or 7 years. Regardless, it's been a long time since they've beaten us.
Given the relative youth of our side and the uncertainty around "the big Henry shake-up," everyone thought Spurs were due this year. Gooners (the affectionate name for obsessed Arsenal fans like me) all over the world held our collective breath, hoping that our team could maintain the great form they'd shown in the first few games of the season. Well, the Spurs scored first. Dang. But it wasn't over. My boys came back to score three goals in the second half.
We beat Tottenham 3-1. That is a solid thumping in the world of soccer. Where was the match played? At Tottenham's home stadium. We beat them in their own house, for the 19th time in a row! I literally stood up and jumped up and down in my house when they scored the third goal. I quickly sat back down when I realized that I was alone and sitting in the room where there are no blinds on the windows. No need to scare the neighbors.
Last night, Arsenal played the Spanish team Sevilla in a UEFA Champions League match. (UEFA = Union of European Football Associations. They organize a "cup" or "tournament" that runs the whole season where the best teams from each national league play against each other. It's almost like a Team World Cup, but only the top teams from each league qualify to play. Matches are spreadout through the whole season, with the final happening in May or June.) I mentioned Sevilla in my last soccer posting. They just had a young player die in the middle of a match. They are playing really well and were supposed to be one of the most formidable teams we play in our Cup schedule.
We trounced them 3-0. Trounced, I say.
What makes this even more unbelievable is the identity of the man leading Arsenal to these victories. A 20 year old kid named Cesc Fabregas. He's amazing. He's scored in almost every match in which he's played so far. That's quite an accomplishment, especially for his position. You see, Cesc plays in a really key position, but it's not necessarily one that leads to lots of scoring. It's his job to move the game along, get the ball down the pitch and get it to the guys who do the scoring. He is involved in most big plays, but usually he assists instead of scoring. He was so brilliant at this part of his job last year that he took the fans' pick as "Player of the Year" by a landslide. He got that accolade despite only scoring twice during the entire season. Twice! He's already scored 3 times (in regular league games, 6 when you count "cup" games) and it's only September. I know, things change. Guys get hurt or go through a dry spell. But I didn't think I could get any more impressed with this kid than I was last year. Boy, was I wrong. He blows me away each time I watch him.
The best part? Cesc seems to really like playing for Arsenal. As you may have surmised from his unusual name, Francesc Fabregas is not English, he's Spanish. There's always a suspicion niggling in the back of my mind that guys from European countries will want to play "at home" after they get enough experience in England. I guess I won't mind if he goes home at some point, but I really don't want that day to come for a long, long time. If he keeps on progressing as he has, he could literally be one of the greatest central midfielders this game has ever seen.
OK, done with that.
Oh, more good news about the Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger. The last time we spoke, I told you that I thought he would stick around at the club for a little while despite rumors that he was going to leave. Yeah, I was right. He signed a 3 year deal with the club last week. Whew!
Now the rumor mill is working overtime talking about the ownership of the club. Evidently, it is a public company in the sense that they sell "shares." But the majority of those shares belong to either one man or one family. This family has owned Arsenal for a really long time. There's some rich Russian dude who just bought a major block of shares to increase his stake to like 20% of the company. Everyone is speculating that he's trying to orchestrate a hostile takeover to get control of the club. The main owners have emphasized that they won't let that happen - the club doesn't need money so they don't need to sell any of their shares and lose control. I think that's true and can't imagine them willingly giving up their stake in the club. It could be bad news if the Russian dude gets control of the club.
That's a good segue to the news that Chelsea's manager, Jose Mourinho, just quit because he could no longer deal with their rich Russian owner. Chelsea is a really big club that have pumped massive amounts of cash into buying fantastic (and expensive) players over the last couple of years. They finished second in the league last year. Everyone thought that they would finish on top this year. But now that their manager is gone, I don't see that happening. You can't lose a manager and keep a bunch of spotlight-hogging superstars playing like a solid unit. Egos get in the way, especially when guys think they have to prove themselves to the new manager. No one knows where Mourinho will end up. But Chelsea has already appointed a new manager who people are speculating will only be a season-long temp.
More bad news for Chelsea? They play Manchester United on Sunday - the team who won the league last year. I expect Chelsea to crumble.
Up next for Arsenal? We play Derby, the second to worst club in the league. I don't want a cheap victory, but I certainly don't expect to lose to Derby. (By the way, it really annoys me that English people pronounce that word as "Darby.")
And... I think I'm done. You can all rest easy, no more soccer posts until next week. You made it through. It wasn't that bad, was it?
[and now a word from our sponsors...]
Can you find the hidden words? Take a break and play Seekadoo! Play now!
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