Its so difficult to
separate politics from anything these days, from your everyday work place to
various organisations, religion and of course sports. watching the political debates on CNN talking about another of Trumps misdemeanor, like kilo tun soh ooo {what has he said again} and how he keeps arming the opposition to his dentriment, One cant but
wonder why there is still a presidential Race, I mean is Hilary Clinton that bad that
some people would rather vote in a Donald Trump who has said all sorts, is
saying all sorts and will continue to say all sorts regardless of the office he
is running for? Look we wouldn’t even be here talking about this if not for his very many ardent supporters who
still gather at his rallies in their throngs, and we say Nigeria gat problems……..the
republican party gat serious issues meeeiiin, but hey, that aint ma bizness
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| Trump Up or Down Hill..ary ??? |
Anyway I was kidding about
the “naija gat problems” part cuz bros we gat issues in motherland, no be lie
ooo. Before I get sucked into the vortex of politics and its squeamishness, I
re-digress back to football. The international break over the weekend put a pause
on the Arsenal Team Train. The last stop
at Tuff moor aka Burnley station wasn’t exactly vintage Arsenal
performance-wise as we were beginning to get used to in recent weeks, but
3points is always a welcome tally first then the performance. In keeping the
momentum going 5 league wins in 5 just before the interlull is quite good. Its
hard not to feel sorry for Burnley though, conceding in the dying minutes ant
to such a controversial goal…..but I’ll take it.
Lets see what Arsenal Reps
did in their various country colours.
The Good
Since charity begins at
home I would say Alex Iwobi especially
comes to mind first, his star is obviously on the rise, at only 19 years playing
in the first team at a top club at such a tender age. He has it all right now
or most of it all, he scored a brace for Nigeria against Plateau United in a pre-world
cup qualifier friendly match. He went on to score the opening goal against
Zambia. He has shown a certain maturity that’s helping him cope with the
pressures of leading both club and countries attack, to think it was said in
the past that he wasn’t tipped to make it BIG time.i guess hardwork , focus and
humility does pay dividends especially when you think of the obscene amount of
money footballers are making these days.
I hope he continues to work hard, on his finishing and tracking back, we have
seen him struggle with his defensive side at Arsenal thereby leaving Nacho
Monreal exposed at times still, if he maintains his focus and keeps up his
ethic, then he may become even bigger than his Uncle Jay Jay wizard (hats off to
bros) cuz he has an eye for goals which was one of his uncles flaws….. not
enough goals i think.
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| Arsenal Boyz On Duty.........GIF Credit:Arsenal.com |
Nacho Monreal got a surprise call up for the Spanish
La Furia Roja (The Red Fury), his
first since the last one in 2013 to make a 17th cap and he marked it
with an assist as he set up Nolito in a 2-0 win over Albania.
Granit Xhaka captained the swiss national team
for the first time to a 2-1 win over Andorra but was absent through a suspension
for their 3-2 win over Hungary.
Mesut Ozil was at the heat of Germany
cresting his 10 shirt with an assist in their 3-0 win over Czech republic. Skordan Mustafi was also in action for Die Mannschaft although he was came on
as a substitute.
Laurent Koscielny was in action for Le’ Blues in both their 4-1 demolition
of Bulgaria and their narrow 1 nil win over the Oranje of Netherland, playing full 90 minutes in both matches.
David Ospina made history by becoming Colombia’s
most capped goalkeeper of all time in a 1-0 win over Paraguay side. Alexis Sanchez had it sweet & Sour
with Chile as they won 2-1 over Peru but were shocked by a 3-0 loss to Ecuador in
Quinto.
Theo Walcott got to playing for the three
lions in a double 60+ minutes appearance against Malta and Slovenia. Its nice
to have him back in contention for England hoping he can maintain form and
fitness.
Mohammed Elneny was in action for the Pharaohs of Egypt as they narrowly won
1-2 away in brazaville.
The Not so Good.
While it was nice to have Kieran Gibbs and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain back in contention for England berths after
missing out on call-ups in recent times, but they remained on the bench for
both matches England played during the qualifiers. It’s a tough for both of
them to usurp their competition at both club and country with the form they are
in. In fairness to Gibbs its being more of Nachos consistency and his incessant
injuries, while Ox on the other hand is up against the emergence of Iwobi and a
scorching Walcott plus his own errant form, then injuries. Giroud remains AWOL
with his mysterious fitness issues while Ramsey we hear may have suffered yet
another setback.
Ozil and Alexis Sanchez
are still stalling over their contracts with their bumper pay rise demands
seeming to be the road block but we shall get details of these in due time. I
guess that’s it from me for a wrap, see you on the other side of Swansea Preview………Ciao
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