Did you ever see the movie “Apocalypse Now”? At the end, when Col. Kurtz is dying and he whispers: “The Horror. The Horror…” I think he was having a premonition about the refereeing at the 2010 World Cup. Goals disallowed or allowed that shouldn’t have been, missed offsides and hand balls, erratic use of cards. I’ve mentioned all this before of course, but after the first two days of the Knockout Stage, the hue and cry over the refs is growing to near riot proportions, as is the call for introducing technology for goal decisions at the very least. I think we’re about to see whether or not Mr. Blatter actually has the good of the game at heart or if he’s just interested in being in charge and collecting a big paycheck. Frankly, my bet is on the latter.
So, two days into the Knockout Stage and we’ve lost another Arsenal player in this years World Cup. Mexico, sans Carlos Vela, went down to the ever-improving Argentina 1-3. And while Mexico lost, they should at least get credit for continuing to press Argentina and stay in the match. It’s more than we can say for the England squad, but as there aren’t any Arsenal players in the English squad this time around, this is the last time I will mention that Sp*ds infested mob.
Upcoming we have Robin van Persie and Netherlands taking on Slovakia today and Cesc Fabregas’s Spain meeting Portugal on Tuesday. Both matches should be full of good football, but lets hope we don’t wind up having to talk about anything the refs did or didn’t call.
Mexico
Vela Sits Out Last Mexico Match
Carlos Vela wasn’t listed officially as an injured player on the squad sheet for Mexico yesterday against Argentina, but one has to think his thigh/hamstring hasn’t yet been passed fit. Accordingly, young Vela saw no match time. With the loss seeing Mexico out of the World Cup, Carlos will get a nice holiday along with his other departed Arsenal brethren. Time to get that leg healed and come into preseason raring to go, Carlos!
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Thoughts?
Have your say on Arsenal’s participation in the World Cup by leaving a comment.
Mexiko started well, I haven’t seen the whole match, just the start and then switched into it some times to look at the score, I had the feeling it wasn’t the right result for Mexiko, but in the end Argentinia shot the goals………., now it’s up to Germany to cope with Messi and fellows…, and of course, it wasn’t right that that the score wasn’t 2:2 at halftime in the England game, I don’t know what would have happened then, it’s a bit pity for the German performance, ’cause they were really enthousiastingly at moments, but they get nervous quickly under pressure……. so who knows………. 😎
no argument exists anymore for not having technology,in my opinion it never did,3 ex players in a box, with all the stuff at hand that andy grey has on sky sports, not just goal line but other aspects , like diving, youknow the bit where the player rolls around on the pitch clutching a leg(that hasnt been touched) getting a player yellow or worse red carded, as the ref sends him off ,before he gets to the line even, that technology will show from 50 angles that the the player didnt touch him and the ref will have to admit he was wrong(that will be hard for the little jumped up shits)and blow his silly little whistle and bring the player back on and send the other off, not even 30seconds, it would stop diving at a stroke
If the referee wanted to use technology to see if the ball crossed the line surely he would need to wait until the ball goes out of play. What happens then if the germans score on the counter attack? do you then go back and decide if england scored and allow both goals? The referee cant stop open play because he thinks the ball might have crossed the line so maybe this is why fifa are against it
I’m not sorry England are out because I never rated the team and although ‘we wuz robbed’ that stuff happens in football – ultimately we were not good enough. But come on – any team that could take Heskey and leave Walcott behind deserves to lose. Capello must go and we need an English manager for pride’s sake. Happily the next world Cup should see some Gunners involved for England. Apparently Capello is already talking about Jack Wilshere and Kieran Gibbs and I believe Theo could be leading the line in 4 years time. I know he needs to improve but I also believe he has the ability. If only we could persuade Aaron Ramsey to become an Englishman…
Meantime I’m supporting Holland now, partly for RVP’s sake.
As for the goal-that-never-was. Technology shmechnology. A simple pair of fucking glasses for blind-as-a-bat officials would have seen the ball was over the line!
Looks like wenger is trying to solve all our problems on the cheap once again. He starts by signing Chamakh on a free and i think he looks very average and not much better than bendtner,he then tries to sign 37 year old schwarzer,who had a terrible world cup then a young centre back that nobody has heard of. Think his name is konchelny but not sure. He still needs to get rid of the rubbish that is denilson,diaby,silvestre,walcott,bendtner,rosicky,eduardo and our two clowns that think they are goalkeepers. Very depressing stuff but its been the same old story for years. Anybody agree?
No, I don’t agree Tom. Chamakh’s going to have an impact regardless of being “free”. Koscielny’s going to fit in nicely at the back four. And there are more additions to come. I’m not writing off a season that hasn’t even started yet, but it sounds like you have. Pity, that.
I think i’m being realistic,any good team is based on a strong defence. Can you blame Fabregas for wanting to leave when Wenger wont spend on proven quality players? When the serious football starts around march this team is not good enough and thats why we need to sign top quality experienced players that know what it takes to win tropheys. Seems to me that Wenger is happy once we make it into the top four and champions league quarter finals. Alot of arsenal fans i know feel the same way
Of course you think you’re being “realistic”. It’s a typical Le Grove readers’ response to anyone who disagrees.
There’s over a month of the transfer window yet. We’ve added Chamakh (whom you’ve already dismissed because he was free) and Koscielny (whom you’ve dismissed despite the fact that he hasn’t even taken the pitch in an Arsenal kit yet). Arsene Wenger has been at the World Cup and the backroom staff have been doing the business, as usual. Also as usual, Arsenal do not put all their transfer plans in the paper. Arsenal have money to spend, players have been scouted and tracked, and I’m quite certain there is A LOT more going on with transfers than any of us know about.
So, as I said before…if you’re ready to write off a season that hasn’t even begun yet, that’s your own bag or rocks to carry around. How you find any joy in supporting Arsenal with that attitude escapes me, but hey…to each his own.
I’m going on what i’ve seen of Chamakh and i think he’s ok in the air and can be a decent player but i think we need betten than that if we are gonna win anything. Do you really think that by adding average players to our squad it will make much difference? If the club cant afford to buy quality players then thats fair enough but i think your wasting your time if you think we will sign any proven quality players over the next four weeks. I’d love to see it happen but i know it wont. I’d love to see us sell the players i mentioned earlier as we all know they dont have the ability or the desire to play for arsenal.
Sorry, Tom. Don’t share your pessimism.