Monday, 21 May 2012
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With St George In Their Hearts?/France Tumble Out

By 2010/06/23 14 Comments

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worldCup1

After a late fitness test the boss has passed me fit to resume blogging today. My apologies for my sudden disappearance. I picked up two ripped back muscles helping a neighbour around ten days ago which laid me flat on my back for over a week. Nice. At least I got to watch almost all the World Cup. 

This afternoon is the acid test for England. I know many English Gooners don’t give a monkey’s about their national team, although a smallish number are passionate followers. 

As a Welshman I like to boast that I only support two national teams – Wales and whoever is playing England. I was brought up to enjoy the Anglo-Welsh rivalry. I’d be the first to say that I don’t like the nasty “anti” edge that has developed in the last two decades or so. Patriotism is one thing. Nationalism, especially ultra-nationalism is another. I digress. If England do well I’m delighted for my English mates and – if I’m honest – a bit envious. Wales hasn’t been to the World Cup since I was two years old. We’ve had fantastic successes in rugby union which I’ve enjoyed but one of my sporting ambitions is to see Wales qualify for the World Cup. 

England’s stilted and passionless displays against the USA and Algeria have surprised me. I thought England had its best chance of success since 1990 under Fabio Capello who I rate as the best manager England has had since the late Sir Alf Ramsey. We shall see if Capello and the players can turn it around this afternoon. 

I’ve remarked before that managing national and club sides require different skills and strengths. Some managers are great at one but not the other. A very exceptional few can excel at both. The jury is now out on whether Capello can turn it around and crown a fantastic managerial career at club level with a successful spell with a national team. 

If England do qualify for the knock-out round and go on to do well in the tournament it wouldn’t be the first time. Italy famously qualified from their group in Spain in 1982 without winning a game, just squeaking through with three draws. They went on to beat West Germany in the final in Madrid. 

England’s problems pale when compared to those of France. France’s early elimination may end up working to our advantage at Arsenal of course, with Gaël Clichy, Abou Diaby and Bacary Sagna now packing their buckets and spades rather than their training kit. Alex Song will be doing likewise on Friday following Cameroon’s elimination. Their game against the Netherlands tomorrow is a dead rubber for them. That leaves the fates of Cesc Fàbregas, Robin van Persie, Nicklas Bendtner and Emmanuel Eboué still to be decided with Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark and the Ivory Coast still to be determined in their last group games this week. Carlos Vela should be fit for selection for Mexico against Argentina in the knock-out round.

I wish them and their national teams well, but won’t be too unhappy to see them go out early on either. That could provide us with an edge next season. 

Keep the faith! 

vic@arsenalinsider.com

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Vic Crescit

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  • harper

    Interesting news from the French press about the younger players in the France team, incl. Clichy, Sagna and Diaby. They could not stand up to the older guys and so went along with the strike but later apologized to Domenech (some of them in tears), saying they never wanted to strike. Clichy, apparently, texted about his great sadness about the destruction of his world cup dreams.

    Fascinating article from the Irish Times on the wider social and class meaning of the rift between Gourcuff and the Abidal/Gallas/Evra/Ribery gang:

    http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2010/0623/1224273110084.html

    As a longtime supporter of the France team (who WANTED Ireland to knock them out because this France team did not deserve to go to SA and had massive problems long before Henry’s handball), it’s been esp. painful for me to watch this implosion and all the hatred and ridicule spewed on France because of it.

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  • Vic Crescit

    @ harper I’m generally a bit of francophile myself. I’ve admired much about French society and sport since I was a kid. I was brought up watching their great rugby union team of the 1970s. I admired the way the FFF set about raising the technical and tactical standards of French football.

    So sad to see the current state of dissaray, egomania and gracelessness, exemplified by Domenech’s refusal to shake hands with Carlos Alberto Perriera after being deservedly beaten by South Africa. Sad, very sad.

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  • John in Norfolk

    Well we (England) qualified, albeit in second place, and the team deserve applause for doing so.

    Qualification cannot hide the fact that the squad lack strikers. Rooney is either not fit or is just f*****g useless, Defoe, the goal apart, hardly had a touch of the ball and was largely ineffective. Our other two strikers, Crouch and Heskey don’t bear thinking about.

    The other glaring lack is that of pace in the defense, Carragher, Terry and Upson are hardly candidates for the Olympic 100 metres in fact they would struggle to compete in the Grandad’s 25 metres at my grand-children’s primary school sports day.

    If what Harper was saying about the younger French players is true then our (Arsenal) trio need to grow up and develop some back-bone.

    I still believe we (England) can go on to win the World Cup!

    C’mon England

    …Ingerland, Ingerland, Ingerland…….

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  • Vic Crescit

    @ John in Norfolk – I still thing England for all their dificiencies and the moderate nature of the opposition this afternoon could now go on and do well.

    As for the younger French players, the problem appears not with them but with the older players like Ribery, Henry, Anelka and Evra. The Irish Times article is well worth a read.

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  • John in Norfolk

    Having read the Irish Times article I’m of the opinion that had the younger players needed to stand up for themselves a little more. Let’s face it non of the Arsenal trio are exactly callow teenagers but are high earning professional sportsmen.

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  • Mexican Gunner

    Thanks for the link!

    France is my favorite team and its so sad to see all this drama. Specially with Gourcuff.

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  • db10

    Another good article from Matt slater. this time its about Cesc:

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/mattslater/2010/06/why_fabregas_is_still_a_gooner.html

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  • Jonas

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  • TJ14

    Let’s be real here. I think the reason Cesc wants to leave is frustration. Everyone says the pull of Barca is too great. I think it is the pull of success that is the issue.

    If we give Cesc the ‘suc-cessc’ he is looking for, then he will stay.

    I think AW realises this and is maybe what his conversation with him was about.

    Can’t wait for next season. A front line of Chamakh, RvP and Arshavin could be the most potent attack in Europe.

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  • John in Norfolk

    db10,

    Thanks for recommending the Matt Slater article which I found very interesting.

    The Swiss Rambler blog mentioned in Matt’s article is even more interesting as it dissects Barca’s balance sheet and exposes the falsehoods on which they operate. Apparently Arsenal are still owed £11 to £12 million on the transfers of Henry and Hleb. How can it be possible for a club to owe so much and still be allowed to trade. Any money Barca get from Man. City for Ya Ya Toure should go to pay off the clubs still waiting for cash from previous transfers.

    If Barca really want Fabregas they must be prepared to pay the whole sum up front and in hard cash.

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  • TJ14

    JIN, is not like having 4 credit card loans? You can go and get a 5th without having to pay off any of the others.

    Technically, that is what Barca are doing. Can you imagine Rossell coming over to the Emirates, going into Ivan’s office and swiping his Visa Card, which he has just been given, to pay for Cesc. He may have got a good rate, or even a balance transfer at 0%?

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  • TJ14

    It must be hard to stand up to a squad with such strong personalities as Gallas, Henry, Evra, Malouda, etc. Laurent Blanc needs to get rid of them all and start again. There is enough talent in France to do this.

    The egos in the French squad over the last 8 years or so has destroyed them. Player for player they could have won everything in this period.

    Let’s hope they get it right soon.

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  • db10

    I thought this was how most football transfers were done. I wouldn’t be surprised if Arsenal still owed Stuttgart some money for Hleb! Maybe thats too far but its likely we still owe money fro Arshavin. Even businesses of the size of the big clubs would struggle to raise £X million for one transaction in one go and they certainly don’t (or shouldn’t if they do) keep cash in a “bank account”.

    I think its more likely that for every player transaction the clubs agree a schedule of payments over a couple of years.

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  • harper

    Vic, Domenech is a classless idiot, he should’ve shaken Parreira’s hand but I have NO sympathy for Parreira. I saw the press conference months ago (not a year ago as he claimed) when he insulted the French team. He not only said France were shameful and should not be in the wc, but he threw out cheap insults about the French nation, and French football in general. He did this without even being asked his opinion on it, he just started talking about it. Now, whether or not you agree with his opinions or whatever he thinks privately, it’s classless for a manager to publicly trash another team like that. No other manager did it. What’s more, he feigned ignorance about what Domenech was talking about, pretending to not even remember what he had said.

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