Good morning everyone, I hope you had a good weekend.
Yesterday’s football saw Germany come from a goal down to draw 1-1 with Spain, Werder Bremen’s Niclas Fullkrug’s strike a late save and from a rather unexpected source. The 29-year-old made his national team debut just weeks ago, scoring in a 1-0 friendly win over Oman, so to rise and equalize with just minutes remaining in such an important context is Something incredible.
Looking back at the goal replays, there’s an oversight from Aymeric Laporte that the Germans take full advantage of, with the Man City man getting full of Mustafi as the ball hits the net. Jumping up and down and waving your arms in frustration like it has nothing to do with him – it’s great fun and hopefully continues with Shkodran throughout the Premier League season when we start again. Maybe I’m being harsh and it was just frustration with himself, but it didn’t look like that.
For Shkodran: The act of making a mistake and then blaming someone else for it.
Previously, Costa Rica had surprisingly beaten Japan, so there was a real danger for Germany. They did ‘mark’ in the first half but Rudiger’s header was ruled out for offside. And really the quality of the two young midfielders from Spain, Pedri and Gavi, was the story of this game for me. They’re 20 and 18 years old respectively, and when you consider their opposition’s experience in that area of ​​the pitch, it’s basically ridiculous how good they look. Playing with control and confidence at that age is hard to fathom, but the Barcelona Academy has produced players like this before (even if they were both brought in from elsewhere at a young age). We had one ourselves, so I guess it shouldn’t be a big surprise.
There was no Takehiro Tomiyasu for Japan, a small concern given that he would almost certainly start if he were fully fit. Let’s hope the injury issue isn’t too serious and he can take part in the match against Spain, which can now have a major impact on the group. He would like Germany to beat Costa Rica without too much trouble, but if Japan get anything from Spain, we get into goal-scoring territory to decide things. As it stands, all four teams can qualify and the more groups we have like this, the better.
The World Cup in Canada is over, beaten 3-1 by Croatia despite a great start in which they scored one of the most visually pleasing goals of the tournament so far. The touch in midfield, the cross, the timing of the run, the jump and the header from Alphonso Davies – phew, just lovely. But it was difficult for them and perhaps defensively they were a bit off the pace, which played a role in a couple of goals. I imagine they will have a lot of regrets about that opening game when in reality they should have beaten Belgium. It wasn’t just the missed penalty, they failed to turn their dominance on the night into goals and ultimately that cost them.
Today there is interest from Arsenal in a couple of games. Thomas Partey will play for Ghana when they take on South Korea, while Granit Xhaka’s Switzerland will play Brazil, for whom our two Gabriels will likely start on the bench. There are a few Xhaka quotes going around:
“We were joking before the World Cup to come here and of course; It is always good that you have teammates in front of you, but we are professional footballers, and during the 90 minutes. I told Gabi Martinelli and Gabi Jesus if they run one on one against our goalie I will crush them!
“Of course, they were worried. they know me If I crush you, it will be very, very hard.
A bit tongue-in-cheek, to be sure, the usual kind of boot camp stuff that happens, but please, Granit, don’t break up. Make this a crush free zone. Or if he must squash, squash someone else who may be playing for one of our rivals and leave them squashed for their return to England. If it takes them some time to disarm, that’s fine by me, but zero Gabi crush if you don’t mind.
Well, let’s leave it there for this morning. James and I recorded the 500th issue of Arsecast Extra for you yesterday, so if you haven’t had a chance to listen to it, here it is. Thank you all for helping us reach this milestone too!
