Gunner Watch : The Weekend game against Everton

Okay, so with this post, I shall be starting a new series of posts. Hopefully, I'll be able to continue posting whenever I get the time :)

Trending - Arsenal FC. There's no secret to my admiration of the North London team. Been following them for over a decade now. And I guess its time I can start commenting on them with utmost responsibility.

Right, down to business then. The midweek UCL fixture against Olympiakos brought out two big positives and two huge negatives. Given, it was a match which we could afford to lose, it would have made all the more difference had we clinched a victory. Of course, it would have been a hard fought victory - there was no hiding the fact that Olympiakos was playing for qualification, and irrespective of the huge injury list on their side, they would be desperate for a win.

Against a backdrop of such a scenario, we had the luxury of playing the youngsters. Ultimately, the team which did take to the field had a fine blend of both youth, and experience. Personally, I really thought the midfield combination of Frimpong and Bennayoun would be enough for the night. But, against a well determined Olympiakos side, it hardly went according to plan.

So, what were the negatives? First and foremost : Our susceptibility to a team which takes the game to us. We are known for the world class passing and possession, both in our and the opponents' half. But when Olympiakos started pressing and pressing hard, for the ball, the youngsters cracked up. One of the biggest negatives was to see a veteran like Squilacci still finding it hard to get in sync with a Permier League side.

The other negative was the lack of coordination between the experienced players. Bennayoun and Arshavin seemed to have been playing on different wave-lengths. Natural reason - lack of game time.

The positives, on the other hand was Alex Oxdale Chamberlain's amazing confidence and skill on the ball and what seemed like a good game for Marouane Chamakh. Sure, he didn't score, but he made some good runs and was at his best with his swift passing. Kudos.

Now, back to the game on Saturday.

Arsenal would probably start as favorites going into yet another game with their formidable unbeaten record in the Premier League now stretching to 8 games! That's really incredible, given the poor start to the season.

However, it will be wrong to take Everton any lightly. With 3 wins and 3 losses in the last 6 games, Everton sit firmly mid-table and have a chance to leap frog 2 teams up to 8th place with a victory and a game in hand. Among the last 6 games, is a narrow 1-0 loss to United. Everton showed tremendous resilience at home and it took SAF's team to grind a win out.

This will be yet another opportunity for The Toffees show their improvement under Manager David Moyes. Expect this Everton Side to put up a strong fight. Players like Phil Jagielka, Leighton Baines and Johnny Heitinga are experienced campaigners at the back. We'll need sharp wing play from Walcott and Gervinho to stretch the back four. James McFadden and Marouanne Felliani will be their players to watch out for, apart from Drenthe and the obvious threats - Tim Cahill and Louis Saha.

With Andre Santos out for a while and Gibbs needing some time before his comeback, we might see four center backs playing the match on Saturday. Szczesny will take his position and it would probably be Vermaelen moving over to the left. Koscielny and Mertesacker would play center backs with Djourou down the right. Djourou's performance on Tuesday night against Olympiakos down the right wasn't all the convincing but its hard to believe Wenger will play him at the center with Koscielny available - and in superb form.

Arteta, Song and Ramsey should be just fine down the center. I would really want to see Bennayoun coming of the bench sometime after the hour mark. Ideally, if van Persie is being his usual self come Saturday, we might have the game sealed by the 70th minute and let Arshavin and Rosicky have some much needed game time. With a busy schedule coming up, it would be absolutely amazing to have such experienced players fit and ready to contribute.

Won't be surprised if Wenger plays Frimpong for a while too. There's a talent in the lad.

65-35 to Arsenal at the moment. Home advantage should seal it for us.

The Champions defied and Oranje start loose.

Day 4 at the  FIFA World Cup 2010 saw the Netherlands open their cup campaign against the Danes. Following Germany's stupendous performance the day before, expectations were high from the Oranje to demolish the Daring Danish contingency.

However, the match began in a rather, boring way. The goalies had absolutely nothing to do in the first forty-five and Wesley Sneijder failed to convert two free kicks from near about the 30-yard range. Niklas Bendtner lined up alongside Dennis Rommedahl but he also failed to live up to his claim earlier this year to be the highest goal scorer at the World Cup. Optimism anyone?

The Netherlands, as usual, had a powerful line up, even though they missed star player Arjen Robben, who sat out due to his hamstring injury he picked up during the match against Hungary where he smashed 2 goals en route to Netherlands' 6-1 demolition.

van Bronckhorst led his team in his 100th cap for the Oranje. van Bommen played the role of the defensive midfielder with excellent vision and partnership with Nigel De Jong who was terrific too. Right Back van der Wiel was the surprise package as the 22 year old's surprise runs into the Danish defense with the ball created ample space for Dirk Kuyt and van Persie on either flanks to feed van der Vaart, who was in the central offensive role.

The first goal came in the 46th minute when van Persie's intended cross was met my Poulsen's wrongly timed header and he smashed the ball into Daniel Agger who unintentionally flicked it into his own net leaving Sorensen with pretty much nothing to do. Dirk Kuyt tapped an easy sitter later to give the Netherlands a comfortable 2-0 victory. Ellia came on as a substitute in the second half and impressed with sublime skills in the left flank terrorizing the Danish back line.

Japan faced Cameroon in the second match of the day and in a way caused a major upset to the African nation. Cameroon stunned the world in the 1990 world cup finals under Roger Milla but had failed to do much in the finals after that. However, this year, they had come to the Rainbow nation with serious hopes of reaching the last eight at least and their hopes went severely down, courtesy, a brave show by the Asians who clinched a 1-0 scrape through by virtue of Keisuke Honda's goal. 

The last match of the day saw defending champions Italy take on a Paraguayan side which looked young, brave and very attacking. Contrary to their previous world cup performances, Paraguay showed resilience and took the lead in the 39th minute when Antolin Alcaraz headed in a inch perfect free kick by A. Torres leaving Gianluigi Buffon stunned and the Azurri's confidence terribly dented.

However, the Italians came back in the second half after Buffon retired hurt during half time to let Federico Marchetti get his 6th cap for the Squadra Azzuris.

The Paraguayan goalie's mistake allowed Danielle De Rossi to tap in a floated ball from the corner to equalize the score in the second half. Marcello Lippi brought in Camoranesi in an effort to stretch the game and find space through the middle, but a strong Paraguayan defense with virtually 3 central defenders kept Italy out and held them to a 1-1 draw.

New Zealand and Slovakia face each other in the second match of Group F (First Round) and both will look to take advantage of the Italy-Paraguay result and go on top of the group with a win. The Oceania champions looked anything but satisfying in the last year's Confederations Cup going down to Spain 5-0. But, with Slovakia, they will fancy their chances.

Apart from that, commencing today is the Group of Death with Brazil and North Korea in action after Portugal and Ivory Coast fight it out in the second match of the day.

Portugal's coach calls Cristiano Ronaldo, Superman. And today will be Ronaldo's ultimate test. If Portugal has to go through, they have to defeat Ivory Coast and vice versa. Ivory Coast, or Cote d'Ivoire as they prefer it, boasts of talents like Kolo Toure, Yaya Toure, Didier Drogba and Solomon Kalou. Drogba maybe out of the first match due to injury, but Cote d'Ivoire is still a good unit.

The last match of the day sees eternal favorites, Brazil take on North Korea. North Korea, with tremendous confidence have claimed to be able enough to defeat Brazil. Making their second appearance at the world stage after 1966 (where they actually defeated favorites Italy !! ), that would be a difficult task given Brazil is no ordinary team at all. 

With the likes of Luis Fabiano, Ricardo Kaka, Felipe Melo and a water tight back four with Julio Cesar in the Goalie's position, Brazil are, well, VERY STRONG.

Yet again, its a promising day at the world cup with many favorites in action. Lets hope the day lives up to its expectations!

Day 2 : A Preview

(June 12, 2010)

 

Yes, the world cup is on and its Day 2. Day 1 saw two exciting matches with disappointing 1-1 and goalless draws but Day 2 promises to be a little more exciting. Lining up today are the four teams from Group B, the Koreans down south take on the Greeks in the first tie followed by the Albeceleste v the Super Eagles in a Group B encounter with tremendous promises. However, the highlight of the day is going to be traditional rivals England and USA resuming their rivalry on the football pitch in the Group C encounter.

If yesterday was about the home team's brave performance and Raymond Domenech's insane team choices, Day 2 will be about USA's brave show and Maradona's insanity.

After a string of disappointing choices and surprising none the less, what is to be seen today is what team does Maradona finally play? The Albeceleste is blessed with attacking options second to none.. so much so that a player like Diego Milito, who got both the goals in the UCL Finals for Internazionale might see the match go by from the bench.

Maradona's belief in Messi's divinity ensures the Barca forward an automatic place in the attack, which looks to be spearheaded by Manchester City's Carlos Tevez in red hot form and Real Madrid's star kid, Gonzalo Higuian. With them working out in the game, Maradona has Diego Milito and Kun Aguero as other attacking options readily available, the former.. probably the most in form striker at this moment and the latter with a knack of scoring surprising goals from just about anywhere.

With THAT for attacking options, Javier Mascerano (Liverpool FC) looks set to start alongside Sebastian Veron in the center midfield role with the scintillating Angel Di Maria down the left and Jonas Guttirez down the right flanks. Whereas both of them are exciting prospects, Veron's agility is something of a concern for the Argentinians.

Demichelis would be their prime defender holding the back 3 in front of Sergio Romero who would be guarding the Albeceleste goal. Maradona's surprise choice of leaving out vetrans Esteban Cambiasso and Javier Zanetti has been ridiculed all over. After the public fall out last year, Maxi Rodriguez has also been over looked by Maradona. The question is, can these players perform at the world level? Their qualifying campaign was slightly better than the Les Blues, but humiliating losses to Bolivia (6-1) and Brazil (3-1) must surely have dented their confidence.

Today, the Argentine are up against Obafemi Martins and the resurgent Nigerians. Their physically dominating team just made it through to the finals from the African zone, but have considerably improved as a team over the last two years.

Many are calling it the Beijing Olympic Gold Match repeat.. but a surprise is what every body expects from the World Cup. And, it might just turn out the Super Eagles' way today.

In the match before that, Manchester Untied star, Park Ji-Sung will lead an experienced South Korean team against Euro 2004 champions Greece. While Greece, famous for their totally boring brand of football, will look to get a goal from set pieces, which is their strong hold, South Korea would look to go into attack right from the word go. In a group where Argentina look to be the favorite to go through on paper, South Korea and Nigeria would be the teams who would fight to get the second place.

And for that, South Korea has to get the better of Greece in the Group B encounter which starts Day 2 of the month long festival.

The last match of the day would be the one to watch out for. The current English team, which is referred to as the golden generation, has failed to convert the talent on paper into execution on the field right through the world cup finals in 2002 and 2006 and the Euro championships in 2004 and 2008. Led by Steven Gerrard, following Rio Ferdinand's injury, England look anything but a side which means business. And under the able guidance of Fabio Capello, they might very well go closest to getting back their 44 year old glory.

Boasting of talent right across the field, England HAS what it takes. But.. so does the USA. Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, Aaron Lennon, Joe Cole, Shawn Right Phillips, John Terry, Ledley King are some of the big names who will start tonight but against them would be an USA team which also looks strong.
Fifa Wor
Led by Landon Donovan, the LA Galaxy forward, USA went upto the finals of the Confederations Cup last summer beating Spain 2-0 en route and leading Brazil 2-0 until Luis Fabiano's eventual single handed rescue operation. With midfield maestro Clint Dempsey and Tim Howard as goalie, USA as a team has performed decently well and has talent in its ranks too.

Add to that, the traditional rivalry between the two is definitely going to spice things up. As a matter of fact, this match could actually go either way.

With promises of 3 stunning games, Day 2 at the Rainbow Nation is shaping up as an exciting day in the World Cup finals. Hold your breath because its going to be a day of stars, shining and losing shine.