Morning.
The fans of England and Brazil won’t be feeling the same way this morning, for very obvious reasons, but from Arsenal’s perspective, the quarter-finals have been good for us. England lost 2-1 to France last night, as I noted in yesterday’s blog, it was Olivier Giroud who had the last laugh.
Well, to be fair, anyone who has spent years wishing Harry Kane would actually miss a penalty would have, but the former Arsenal striker showed great anticipation and sharpness of movement to head home what turned out to be the winner. Why he went unmarked in the box before Antoine Griezmann’s excellent cross is a good question. Perhaps a Mr H Maguire from Manchester could explain it at some point.
France had taken the lead thanks to Aurelien Tchouameni’s first-half goal. A nice shot, but I think you also have to pay attention to the goalkeeper, sometimes they are short arms. The contentious element of the goal was the clear foul on Bukayo Saka that occurred deep in the France half and was completely ignored. I don’t know if I should feel a strange sense of relief that this is happening to Saka everywhere, and not just in the Premier League, but England fans of other persuasions might now understand how Arsenal fans feel when this happens. every damn week
After that though, I thought England were the better team. Saka won the penalty that equalized them, and for me he was easily the best player on the pitch. That’s why I really don’t understand the decision to remove it. Unless there was injury, he didn’t make any sense, and his departure coincided with England’s loss of momentum and dominance.
The second penalty was as clear as you will ever see. A solid Mustafi moment from Theo Hernandez, and if there’s anyone you’d like to score again from the spot, it’s Kane, but he flicked it over the bar. Let’s hope this is what ends his incredible record of penalties, because we all know he’s going to get one the next time we play Sp*rs. If it ends in the middle of Seven Sisters Road, that’s fine with me.
So England are out, and while I obviously can’t speak for the England fans, I would say there is a sense of frustration based on the way they played last night and the talent that is in this team. However, from Arsenal’s point of view, it means that Bukayo Saka will make a short trip to Dubai unless he is given a few days off, but also that if his fitness allows it, he will be in the frame for our match against West Ham on December 26. I didn’t expect both him and Martinelli to be available, and it’s just the kind of boost we need after Gabriel Jesus’ injury.
In the other match, what a story for Morocco as they became the first African team to reach a World Cup semi-final. Portugal knew they were going to have a tough game when they saw Spain knocked out against the same opponent, and although they are a very impressive team technically, it’s very hard to get behind a team that throws themselves so often. Bruno Fernandes’ insistence that he should have received a penalty doesn’t add up when you watch the video, it just falls off. That is a dive, and an outright lie.
The post-match complaints about the referee are also ridiculous. What team had a man sent off harshly? Was it the referee who deflected Pepe’s head from 6 meters? Nonsense. Morocco worked very hard, defended so well and resolutely, and they deserved their victory. Let’s face it, if they had even a semi-competent striker, they would have won game 2 or 3-0 when you look at the chances they had late in the game. Fair play to them, and the scenes at the end between the players and the fans were absolutely wonderful.
As for our old friend Cristiano Ronaldo, his reaction after the final whistle tells you everything you need to know about this man. I think we can all understand being emotional about his last World Cup match, but there was no fair play in congratulating the opposition, nor was there a moment of consideration for his teammates or the Portuguese fans in the stadium who will also have felt the pain. of defeat It was about him walking away crying, knowing full well that the cameras would follow his every move because of his star status.
Pathetic.
On the contrary, I saw Saka comfort Kane after the match. He’s been there, he knows how he feels. Soccer is a team game, and even an exceptional talent like Cristiano Ronaldo can’t make it a one-man show.
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Well, that’s all for this morning. James and I will be recording Arsecast Extra for you this morning. Keep an eye out for calls for questions on Twitter @gunnerblog and @arseblog on Twitter with the hashtag #arsecastextra, or if you’re a member of Arseblog on Patreon, leave your question in the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord. server.
We’ll have the pod for you before lunchtime. Until then.
