Down to Ten Men

And what do you see?

Today at work I had the pleasure of sitting on a table opposite another Arsenal ‘fan’. During the standard Monday morning football chat with his friends, he managed to assassinate Arsenal’s title chances/hopes of finishing within the top half within the time it took me to finish my apple.

I would have been impressed, had he not been so far wide of the mark as to make Emile Heskey look like a prolific striker.

Anyone else bored of the Cesc Fabregas transfer saga yet? To me it seems that Arsenal are firmly closing the door in Barcelona’s face, yet they still persist with their petty PR stunts to discourage all Arsenal fans and promote the idea that Fabregas is destined to return to his home town club sooner rather than later.

Arsenal have stood their ground as they own Fabregas and have the right to refuse any advances towards their talisman, so why do Barcelona continue to ruffle feathers in North London when they have been firmly told “No”?

So we are down to the final eight, with South American nations providing 50% of the remaining teams (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay), Europe supplying three (Netherlands, Spain and Germany) and finally the sole African team of Ghana. This is just going to be a quick preview of the quarter finals of the World Cup of 2010.

So, after the abysmal performance against Algeria and a bashing from media-pillar to media-post by anyone and everyone, England made it through to the final 16 of the World Cup in South Africa. Today’s game against Slovenia was the first time in 180 minutes of World Cup football England looked as though they believed they could win, and with the expectant press smelling blood like a great white, England have managed to silence their doubters for now.

Mexico have just beaten France 2-0 in Group A of South Africa 2010 and France should be thankful their goal difference wasn’t dented further as they prepare to fight for their World Cup lives against the hosts next tuesday. The country who once dominated Europe and the world, the country everyone thought would win their group despite having Domenech at the helm and not having Zidane giving directions, the country that reached the final in 2006, are a country lacking backbone, bottle and balls.

Wonderkids. What is so wonderful about these kids if they are, as we are led to believe, constantly breaking through every year. Are these youngsters who are putting in eye-catching displays on an occasional basis the real deal or simply the by-product of an over-zealous media and an equally demanding audience to turn any average talent into tomorrow’s superstar?