It's 1996 {and 2005} All Over Again

Olympic Gold Medal Match
Argentina-Nigeria
Friday August 22nd 9 pm PST

The Olympic gold medal match will be worth watching if you can find it among NBC's ever confusing and frustratingly vague television schedule. The game is Saturday at midnight Eastern/9 pm Friday PST. Recent practice has been to show the matches "live" on the east coast on Telemundo and then again 3 hours later for the West Coast, also on Telemundo; if that holds then it will be right at midnight in the East and then shown also at midnight out West 3 hours later {don't even get me started on the stupidity of NBC showing their "live" coverage on 3 hour tape delay on the West Coast- it's 37 flavors of stupid and irritating}.

Now then, the playoffs have been very good thusfar. Argentina squaked by Netherlands 2-1 in extra time in the quarterfinals, a great match. Cameroon took Brasil to extra time 0-0, despite being a man down, before succumbing 0-2 in extra time, Nigeria beat African rivals Ivory Coast 2-0, and amazingly massive underdog Belgium beat Italy, in in incredible fashion- they went a man down and a goal down in the 18th minute, then battled back to 1-1, fell behind 1-2 with only 16 minutes left, then scored 2 goals to beat favored Italy 3-2, all while playing with 10 men for 70+ minutes.

The semifinals the other morning weren't as close but were still entertaining nonetheless. Nigeria hammered Belgium 4-1, and played amazingly well- they could have easily scored 6 or 7 goals- it was something to watch. Then El Super Classico de Sudamerica: Brasil-Argentina, with significant star power for an Olympic game: Brasil had Ronaldinho, Anderson, Pato, Jo, and others while Argentina boasted a ridiculous midfield of Riquelme, Messi, Mascherano, and Gago. Just last summer Brasil shocked Argentina 3-0 in the final of Copa America after playing decidedly average the whole tournament while Argentina played incredible soccer. Not this time. Argentina won 3-0 and deservedly so. Riquelme. Messi & co weren't as flustered by Brasil's physical play as they were in last year's final, and Brasil were pretty poor offensively- the better team on the day certainly won.

So it's down to Argentina and Nigeria, a repeat of the 1996 Olympic final in Athens, GA's Sanford Stadium when an 18 year old named Kanu captained Nigeria to the gold medal and Nigeria came from behind twice to win 3-2 on a stoppage time goal to became the first African team to win an international competition at something above the youth level.


Kanu celebrates on the hallowed turf of Sanford Stadium, 1996

More recently, these two teams met in the final of the 2005 Under 20 World Cup, with Argentina winning 2-1 as Messi drew and then converted penalties for both Argentine goals. Since the 2008 Olympic tournament is an Under 23 tournament {each team gets 3 exemptions to this rule} many of the players on both teams will be the same from that U20 World Cup final 3 years ago. In fact, Argentina will start 5 players from this match and Nigeria a whopping 8. Side note- an interesting matchup to watch out for will be Messi v Nigerian centreback Dele Adeleye; Adeleye conceded both penalties against Messi in that final.

Argentina are also defending champions, having won the 2004 tournament in Athens, Greece with a perfect record of winning every match they played in. So we'll either see a back to back championship for Argentina or another Olympic championship for Nigeria, which would be their 2nd in the last 4 Olympics and 3 of the last 4 for Africa {Cameroon 2000}.

Surely Argentina are favorites with Riquelme, Messi, Mascherano, Gago, and company, not to mention the fact that they won the Under 20 World Cup in both 2007 and 2005, but Nigeria are certainly capable of beating them if they play well. Hopefully the match can live up to it's potential as a classic showdown.

Enjoy, if you can find it on your TV...

Kanu!!!! Pompey Legend Forever

"He's tall, he's black,
He's had a heart attack,
Ka-nuuu, Ka-nuuuu!!!"

That song is ringing in the air tonight both in London, where today's FA Cup final was held at Wembley, and Portsmouth as well.

After scoring the only goal in Portsmouth's 1-0 FA Cup semifinal win, which put them in their first FA Cup final since 1939, he repeated that feat again today in the FA Cup and scored the only goal in Portsmouth's 1-0 win over Cardiff City. And from what I saw it looked like he could easily have had a hattrick, but 1 was all that was needed as the rest of the Arsenal Retirement Football Club {Sol Campbell, Lauren, Diarra, and assistant manager Tony Adams} kept a clean sheet for the win.


Kanu scores the winner

You can see the BBC's video highlights of the match here.

The most decorated African footballer in history, who appeared to be at the end of his career with little chance to win trophies, has not only won a trophy at a smaller club but made himself a Portsmouth legend for all time with his FA Cup performances and goals.

So congratulations to Kanu, Lauren, Big Sol, Tony Adams, 'Arry Redknapp, and everyone else at Portsmouth.

Kanu Puts Pompey In Final

12 hours later, and that is still the headline on Soccernet.

Kanu's goal helped Portsmouth beat his former club West Brom 1-0 in the FA Cup semifinal and put them into their first FA Cup Final since 1939, when they won their only FA Cup by beating Wolverhampton 4-1.

You can be sure that all over Pompey tonight his song is being belted out by revelers both sober and drunk:

"He's tall, he's black,
He's had a heart attack,
Kaaaaa-nuuuuu, Kaaaaa-nuuuuuu!!!"



Great for him. Already the most decorated African footballer in history, at almost 32 this may be his last chance to win a major honor, at least at the club level. Here's hoping he scores the winning goal in the final to become a Portsmouth legend for ever after.

African Cup Of Nations Goes From Good To Great

So we're in the middle of the African Cup Of Nations (think World Cup but only for the 51 nations of the continent of Africa) which means great football and other outstanding things like witch doctors and juju (take your pick).

It's a shame that this tournament isn't on TV because the quality of play is really damn good these days.

Anyhow, the group rounds are over and the field has been whittled from 16 teams to 8 for the knockout stage. And there are some absolutely awesome matchups this weekend.

ACN Quarterfinals:

Sunday, Feb 3

Ghana-Nigeria (could be epic)
Ivory Coast-Guinea

Monday Feb 4

Egypt-Angola
Tunisia-Cameroon

I don't have time to get into all of these, but Bobbeh did a great preview/analysis today.

At the start of the tournament I really wanted to pick hosts Ghana, who as you remember I was quite high on at World Cup 2006, but I couldn't pull the trigger as they are without their inspirational talisman and captain Steven Appiah. So like many people, I liked Ivory Coast to win it all, and I thought they would beat hosts Ghana in the final, with Cameroon and Nigeria being defeated semifinalists. Not much of a limb there, but it's still on the cards so I'll stick with that.

The highlights and goals thusfar have been great each night on Fox Sports World Report, and they're averaging over 3 goals a match, so again it sucks that these aren't on TV. You can, however, watch games online on a PPV basis at AllSoccerAfrica. I'll probably end up buying the semifinal and final later next week.

Arsenal Joga Bonito Wednesday: Genesis Edition

No, not Abacab.

Genesis, as in, how I came to be a big fan of The Super Eagles of Nigeria, Kanu, and Arsenal.

In early 1996 as an enterprising young lad who was trying to get into grad school to pursue a Masters Degree in Sports Management, I decided to volunteer for ACOG, the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, in the Athens office, which was right on campus in the Tate center. I went by the office a few times a week and helped out wherever I could. I parlayed this into a paying job for the summer, working logistics for the Athens site, where among other things we converted Sanford Stadium into a proper soccer stadium, Stegeman colisuem held volleyball & rhythmic gymnastics, and the UGA Athletic dorm was converted into the village for housing athletes. I was able to score the Sanford stadium gig as my home base, and when the medal round soccer finally came my various job duties and my "infinity" badge allowed me some serious behind the scenes access, interview room, locker rooms, press box, suites, field, etc, etc. In short, it was an amazing experience.

Anyhow, the 4 men's teams were Brasil, Argentina, Portugal, and Nigeria {in the Olympic tournament teams field their Under 23 team but are allowed 3 players of any age over 23}. Brasil were massive favorites with Argentina close behind, and Nigeria seen as the rank outsiders. Most all of the workers on staff quickly became fans of Nigeria, mainly because unlike the other three, who mostly acted like prima donnas, the Nigerian players were very down to earth, humble, approachable, and nice. Always friendly, happy, and smiling- it was obvious that they were really enjoying the experience. Same for their fans, who were all so nice, full of joy, and down to earth. Through one of my job duties I got to spend some time with the Nigerian players, especially Taribo West, he of the crazy hair, and they were all very nice and friendly. Though my job required a neutrality and professionalism, internally I was pulling hard for Nigeria to succeed.

So in the semifinals Nigeria faced Brasil, and although the Super Eagles were a talented young bunch, many who had won the FIFA Under 17 World Championships in 1993 and some who played on the successful 1994 World Cup team that won its group and went out to an Italian golden goal in the round of 16, they were pretty big underdogs. Like many international tournaments, it was simply assumed that Brasil would walk away the winners. Looking back there was a ton of young talent on the field that day: Dida, Roberto Carlos, Bebeto, Rivaldo, and a young 20 year old by the name of Ronaldo, who then went by Ronaldinho because there was another older Ronaldo on the squad, for Brasil. Nigeria had the core of what would be a golden generation of players including Celestine Babayaro, Jay Jay Okocha, Taribo West, Daniel Amokachi, and young Kanu.

The match started out as expected, with Brasil scoring in the first minute, and before halftime they were ahead 3-1. It was a great match, with Brasil showing it's expected brilliance but Nigeria played with joy and flair and energy, and the crowd got behind them for the way they played and that they were against the odds underdogs.

They won a penalty in the 2nd half, giving them a bit of hope, but when it was saved the situation looked pretty dire. Then in the 78th minute Victor Ikpeba pulled one back and made it 3-2, setting up an exciting last few minutes. And then 18 year old Kanu got the equalizer in added time, completing a last gasp comeback and dramatically sending the match into sudden death overtime.

Five minutes into extra time, Kanu capitalized on a ball that fell to him outside the box, shifted to his left foot, and rocketed the golden goal game winner that slayed the Brasilian dragon and sent Nigeria into the Gold Medal Match. For not the first or last time in his career, his goal celebration was wacky as hell, and included some sort of interpretive dance and pat-myself-on-the-back move. Great stuff.


Nigeria 4-3 Brasil, between the hedges

In the Gold Medal Match Nigeria faced powerhouse Argentina, and were again heavy underdogs. After Hernan Crespo's 3rd goal of the medal rounds they found themselves down 2-1 in the second half, and came from behind again to win 3-2 with the winning goal coming in stoppage time. This was especially significant for not only Nigeria but all of Africa, for it marked the first time that any African nation had won a international tournament above the youth level.

Brasil, after pounding Portugal 5-0 in the Bronze medal match, immediately flew home which meant that they no-showed for the medal ceremony after the gold medal match the following day. Pretty bush league, and the word was that they were so pissed and embarrassed that they had lost that they just wanted to get the fuck out of dodge and go home.

Even in victory the Nigerian players and fans alike were friendly, gracious, humble, and generally cool as shit. We had to quickly set up the medal stands on the field immediately after the match, and just like with the US Women's team 2 days earlier, it was cool as hell getting to be down on the field as they celebrated and received their medals in front of a sold out Sanford Stadium. And West even hooked me up with his practice jersey, signed it, and a few of his teammates did the same.

An amazing experience that instantly made Nigeria my favorite international team. Perhaps that will change years from now when all of those guys are long retired, but today it's 11 years later and they are still my squad. And Kanu was the hero so I obviously liked him, and after his heart problem after that which required surgery and some said he would never play again, when Arsene Wenger took a chance and signed him from Inter Milan in 1999, well that is how I became an Arsenal supporter.

Arsenal Joga Bonito Wednesday: Kanu En Espanol Edition

Here's an outstanding vid of Kanu's career, from winning the FIFA Under 17 World Championship in 1993 with an up and coming generation of Nigerian footy stars, to his early career at Ajax {where he picked up a Champions League winners medal} leading Nigeria to the gold medal as an 18 year old at the 1996 Olympic Games in Sanford Stadium {where I worked, met him, met the team, and became a fan of Kanu and the rest of The Super Eagles}, to his brief stint at Inter Milan, major success at Arsenal {2 EPL titles, 2 FA Cup titles}, through to his current stint at Pompey, as well as his overcoming a life threatening heart condition and setting up The Kanu Heart Foundation to provide medical assistance to Nigerian children with heart defects.

And for all of his sick goals over the years, I loved seeing that amazing goal that he scores in the Arsenal practice session where soon-to-be best striker in the world TH14 jumps on his back afterwards- never seen that one before.

Even if you aren't into footy, it is hard not to like Kanu: supremely talented and accomplished athlete from a humble background, overcame the adversity of life threating heart condition to not only recover but play again at a world class level, good family guy with values, and gives back to his community by investing his own money and starting a heart foundation to help children with conditions similar to his own. A little bit like Lance Armstrong really, except for all of the messy relationships with various women and the accusations of doping.

So enjoy a brief synopsis of the most decorated footballer in the history of African football, en Espanol.

Arsenal Joga Bonito Wednesday: Kanu Shot The Sheriff Chelsea Edition

A while back I wrote about one of Kanu's finest hours - his hat trick in the last 15 minutes at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea that brought Arsenal from 0-2 down to 3-2 winners. Well finally someone has thrown up all 3 goals on YouTube, although frustratingly they chose to cover up the great announcing with I Shot The Sheriff (and not even the Marley version either). Anyhow, here it is. Enjoy:


Kanu believe it! He's flattened Chelsea!
He's hit a hatrick! At Stamford Bridge!

I'm off to the pub to watch the Arsenal-Tottenham Carling Cup Semifinal 2nd leg. Henry is being rested, Gilberto is back, but Cesc is not starting - not sure if the kids can do it without him, but we will see. I'm sure he will come on in the last 20 minutes if the result is in doubt.

***Update 2.47 p.m.***

Arsenal 3-3 Tottenham, 5-3 A.E.T.

Arsenal went up on 78 minutes via Adebayor, then Spurs equalized on 85 minutes through Mido header. I figured that was that as it finished 3-3, that Arsenal were through on the away goals rule. But I forgot that the Carling Cup does it differently - they play extra time in the event of any aggregate tie, then apply the away goals rule if it is still tied after extra time. Seems a silly rule to me. Anyhow, Aliadiere and then Rosicky scored in extra time and Arsenal won 5-3. They will meet Chel$ea in the final.

I'm Twisted Like Keith Sweat

Well, not quite, but it's the first thing that popped into my head.

Arsenal-Portsmouth.
7 a.m. PST. Setanta Sports USA

Obviously I want Arsenal to win, but of course Kanu plays for Portsmouth. I also really like Portsmouth - they're probably my 2nd favorite club. Amazing and classy fan support- they sing their asses off even when they are down 0-5 after 57 minutes, Kanu is having a renaissance there - leading the EPL in goals, Sol Campbell is playing well for them, and how can you not love their manager 'Arry Redknapp? The most entertaing manager out there, and a Londoner who has supported Arsenal since he was a wee lad.

So I'm not quite Ann Bowden or Brady Quinn's sister, meaning that you wont see 58,000 camera shots of me in the crowd with a homemade 1/2 Arsenal- 1/2 Portsmouth kit and 12 pounds of makeup on my face, acting overly dramatic and emotional because I know that they cameras are showing me 58,000 times.


Thankfully it won't be this awful

But it is a little tricky when your co-favorite footballer (PV4 of course) is going up against the team you love. I'll just rock the red Arsenal K25 kit and go easy on the makeup.

So here's hoping Arsenal win 5-3 with Kanu getting a hattrick. Shit, make it 6-3. Hopefully it will be better than last year, when Kanu scored for West Brom as they beat Arsenal 2-1. Don't want to see that again.


Score all you want, my man, as long as it's in a losing effort.

Come on you Gunners!

Weekend Review: Sticking It To The Man Edition

Amid all the rain...

Chel$ea 1-1 Arsenal.

Halfway through the 2nd half it had 0-0 draw all over it, and I was thinking about an interesting article I read on Friday about how the Prem is now the lowest scoring league in Europe this year, the new Serie A if you will. But things soon came to a boil.


Tasso Flamini puts Arsenal ahead.

A great Flamini goal gave the Arse a 1-0 lead with 12 minutes to go and it looked like it might just be Old Trafford all over again. An absolute blinder be Essien put those thoughts to rest in the 84th minute - a stunning strike, absolutely unsaveable. At that point it was frustrating because Ash Cole fouled Hleb to gain Chel$ea possession that led to the goal, but no foul was given. But after Chel$ea hit the woodwork not once, but twice in the added 4 minutes, both with the goal at their mercy and one from 2 yards out, the frustration of 1-1 turned into happy/lucky to get a point 1-1. Chel$ea hit the post 3 times in total, and after Porto hit the woodwork twice on Wednesday you have to say it was a fortuitous week for The Gunners.

In addition to being a really talented footballer, Didier Drogba has always been a cheating, diving cunt, but yesterday he really stepped it up. His performance was like a one man re-enactment of Portugal's 2006 World Cup campaign. After about the 5th incident, which ironically was the most legitimate of the match, Mats had seen enough: he promptly went into Mad Jens of North London mode and pushed Drogba, who fell like he had been shot. DD then got up and went over and pushed Mad Jens to the ground. After much deliberation the ref gave them both yellow, which I have to say was a pretty level-headed decision. Many refs, who like to be the center of attention (Graham Poll, Mike Riley, Steve Bennett) would surely have sent them off (or in Poll's case given them each 3 yellows).


As predicted, Mats pulled a classic Mats.

And of course Mourhino was a classless fool afterwards and lured Wenger into yet another verbal bitch fight like two 14 year old girls. So pretty damn entertaining for a 1-1 draw.

Speaking on stunning strikes, did you see Matthew Taylor's 45 yard volley on Saturday? Wow. Not off of a 30 yard cross at an angle like RVP's goal of the season nominee, but much farther out, which in the end will probably be internalized as better.

Oh, and Kanu's goal that put him back into the EPL scoring lead was pretty great , too.

Red Stripes playoff campaign was rained out, so next week then for that.

One of the highlights of my weekend was sticking it to the man, the man in this case being Ticketmaster. I bought my tickets for the January G Love show from the local venue box office, thus saving the $8.50 "convenience" charge per ticket and the $5 "processing charge". It made me feel all warm and fuzzy to put one over on those vile & evil fuckers. I think Kris Kross had Ticketmaster in mind when they famously said, in their badass 12 year old way, "you can get the finger. The middle".


Kris Kross: hates Ticketmaster, too.

Finally, I watched The Game Of Their Lives last night. It is pretty horrible, and Patrick Stewart as the narrator was painful, but if you are going to make a movie about one of the biggest upsets in soccer history then eventually I am going to watch it (the upset being the US beating England 1-0 at the 1950 World Cup, a scoreline that was literally so unbelieveable that when the news was wired back to England, no one in England thought it was real, they just assumed that the telegraph was a typo and that the score must have been England 10-0 US. Allegedly...).
So you've been warned. The historical information gleaned from watching is interesting, but the movie is so cheesy, formulaic, stereotypical, and poorly acted that you might need to do some eye-rolling exercises before you fire up the DVD to be sure that you don't pull a muscle rolling your eyes during the film.

"You're Just Tottenham With Money"

My favorite anti-Chel$ea taunt that a Brit told me last year.

Some perspective from ANR:

A quick calculation of the squad transfer values (in) are roughly £234m v £39m. In fact the likely Arsenal first eleven cost just £8m more than a Chelsea substitute, Shaun Wright-Phillips. And the Chelsea subs bench over three times the cost of the Arsenal first eleven.

Chel$ea-Arsenal. Fox Soccer Channel. Sunday 8 a.m. PST.

So Arsenal travel to Stamford Bridge to take on Chel$ea tomorrow, a fixture that I always love since it reminds me of Chelsea-Arsenal 1999, when Arsenal were down 2-0 to Chelsea with only 15 minutes to play. Chelsea had the stingiest defense in the Premiership (at the time) that year; in fact they had not conceded a single goal at home yet that season, so a loss was damn near certain. In the 75th minute Kanu pulled one back for Arsenal, and then miraculously scored another in the 83th minute to secure a great come from behind draw. Except he wasn't done. In the 90th minute he scored an absolutely ridiculous goal(better video here, way better commentary from Martin Tyler here), giving him an amazing hat trick, Arsenal an amazing win, and securing himself as an instant Arsenal legend. I can't find it, but a few years ago there was match report by a Gooner who had tickets to this match but couldn't go because his wife went in to labor, and he was at the hospital listening to the match on the radio, and long story short they named their baby Kanu because of his performance in beating hated Chelsea in miraculous form- the kind of crazy obsessed fan story that would have been on Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer if it existed back then.


"He's tall, he black,
he's had a heart attack,
Kaa-nuu, Kaa-nuu!"

So fond memories for me, although lately Arsenal haven't done shite against The Blues. Kind of like a bizarro Georgia-Tennessee thing going on (Tennessee won 9 in a row over Georgia in the 90s, only for Georgia to win the next 4 in a row and 6 of the next 7). Amazingly, Arsenal did not lose one time to Chelsea in any competition between 1995 and 2004, but since then Arsenal have not beaten Chel$ea once in any competition over the last 2 seasons. It seems unlikely that Arsenal can do the business over Chel$ea at Stamford Bridge, but as I said before Georgia played at Auburn earlier this year, all things are possible. They have already gone to Old Trafford this year and beaten the league leaders Manchester United without TH14, so you never know. That being said, William Gallas is injured and Kolo Toure is suspended - facing Sheva & Drogba without your 2 best defenders is a tall, tall order. Arsenal's back 4 tomorrow will have an average age of 21, and Drogba has made Senderos his bitch in recent meetings. All of these things scare me more than being without TH14.

The big talking point is of course Ashley Cole, Cashley Cole, Cuntley Cunt, or whatever you choose to call him. This is the 1st time that he will face his old club since the shameful and stupid way that he engineered his move from Arsenal to Chel$ea, which caused a grat deal of bad blood between the two clubs and between Arsenal fans and Ash himself. The root of the issue was a secret illegal meeting (that wasn't so secret) in a London hotel between Cole & his agent, Mourhino and other reps of Chel$ea 2 days before a massive Arsenal-ManU match. Illegal for starters, they all lied about it and denied it ever happend, then Ash decided that somehow Arsenal had betrayed him and not vicey versey and wouldn't shut up about it, even writing a book that no one seems to be buying. This from someone who was a London boy and Arsenal fan since a child, who the club took in and turned from a youth team trialist to the best left back in the world, a fan favorite and Arsenal legend and future captain in the making. Now he is public enemy #1, made even worse that he went to cross town rivals Chel$ea of all places.

Arsenal fans have printed 20,000 fake 20 pound notes which they presumably are either going to wave at him or throw into the air, and to be sure he will get a shitload more schtick from the travelling Gooners, and deservedly so. I'm with Arseblogger on the whole thing.


Funny

He'll either be rattled and somewhat ineffective, or he will play a blinder and score 2 goals.

Here's hoping that Adebayor can channel Kanu 99 and the Arse can do something special. I'll be rocking the shit out of my red 1999-2000 Kanu kit for sure. And I love the fact that Mats aka Mad Jens of North London is talking shit about Ash - you know he is fired up and will be up for it and play a blinder tomorrow, and probably a get a yellow or red card to boot. I love that guy.

Come on you Gunners!

Freedom!

I feel like William Wallace today.


Freedom!

For the first time since Labor Day, I have an entire weekend free. No more Saturday college football-fests until next September. As much as I love college football, I'm glad that it's over and I once again have entire weekends free to explore & have adventures in and around SF.

Of course, it is going to rain here all weekend, so we're not off to the best start.

Have a great weekend.

Oh, and Kanu scored today as Portsmouth beat Everton to regain sole possession of the EPL scoring lead. Hell yeah Kanu!


Kanu to David Weir: "Get off me, bitch!"

Weekend Roundup

Arsenal
Last week was "frustrated but encouraged". This week was just frustrated. Another match where they pretty much dominated, hit the post twice, TH14 had two 1-on-1s with the keeper and feebly shot right at him both times, Hleb had a 1-on-1 with the keeper that didn't even result in a shot, on and on. They went 0-1 down when defender Justin Hoyte had a colossal fuckup and conceded a penalty. Note to Justin: it is never wise, in your own penalty box, to run full speed to your right while looking to your left, becuase you may very well smash into the other team's striker and give away a goal. Ridiculous. Hoyte is a right back who looks lost out there at left back, and why Flamini, who deputised so well last year at left back, is not playing there I don't understand. By about the 70 minute mark you knew they were never going to score, and they didn't. Manchester Citeh 1-0 Arsenal.

So for Pessimist Club members you have: first loss to Citeh in 17 meetings dating back to 1991, 1 point from 2 matches against 2 pretty shit teams (Villa & Citeh), worst start to a season since 1992, etc., etc. Basically the sky is falling.

For members of The Optimist Club you have: completely dominated both matches, haven't given up a goal in open play in 2 matches, and every other big team (except ManUtd) have already dropped points as well. Basically a rationalization that Arsenal can still challenge for and win the Prem.

I'm somewhere in between these two camps. It's frustrating as hell not to have at least 4 points from these two matches, but on the other hand I definitely prefer what has happened thus far to having 6 points from 2 matches but getting knocked out of Champions League by Zagreb last week. They host Boro, another average team, in 2 weeks, so hopefully they can sort it out and get back on track. The transfer deadline is Friday so it will be interesting to see what happens with Ash Cole, Reyes, and the 58 players rumored to be coming in.

Horse Racing
Bernardini romped in the Travers, so everything is building towards a massive showdown in the Breeders Cup Classic on Nov. 4. Most horses will have 1 more start between now and then. In other races at Saratoga Henny Hughes looked amazing and will be one of the favorites in the BC Sprint, and Discreet Cat completely romped on Friday, winning his first start back since winning the UAE Derby in the spring. I think he ran the fastest 7 furlongs of the entire Saratoga meet, so he is one to keep an eye on this fall.

Golf
Stop me if you have heard this one before... Tiger looks totally average on Sunday, no one else steps up and grabs it by the throat, and Tiger does what he needs to do to win in the end. That's 4 wins in a row, and he plays again this weekend in the Deutche Bank tourney in Boston. Tiger looked a bit tired on Sunday especially, and he seemed to win more on mental toughness and putting than anything else.

I am going to predict that he does NOT win this week, and here is why. Immediately after the tournament he and the rest of the US Ryder Cup squad hopped on a jet and flew to Ireland, where they landed yesterday morning to play 2 days of practice rounds on the K Club, which is hosting the Ryder Cup next month. After playing on Monday (off only whatever sleep they got on the plane), playing Tuesday, and flying home Wednesday morning, they will play a practice round in Boston Wednesday afternoon and then tee it up Thursday - Sunday. I think Tiger was already fatigued before all of this, so I do not think that he will win his 5th in a row this week. In fact, I don't think any member of the US Ryder CUp team will be the winner this week given that crazy schedule. I look for a Euro or a lesser known US player to win this weekend, but we'll see.

CFB
At long last it arrives this week. Time again to spend would-be productive work time studying these. Things kick off on Thursday night as the faux-Bulldogs host Spurrier's Cocks, who will try to deliver the Ol' Ball Coach his 1st ever win in Starkville. The real Bulldogs host WKU, which is only mildly interesting to me because I lived in Bowling Green for a year and worked in the athletic dept. at Western. Otherwise it is essentially a scrimmage.

Kanu Potpourri
Kanu bagged two more goals last night as Portsmouth destroyed Middlesborough 4-0. With 4 goals in 3 matches he is tied for the goalscoring lead in the Premiership. He has already doubled his goal total for his 1st season at West Brom and is only 1 shy of matching the 5 he scored for them last year. Keep it going, Kanu.

This Kanu finally scored for FC Red Stripes on Sunday, but it was pretty ugly. Weak shot that went through a defenders legs and into the goal - the soccer equivalent of a basketball 3 pointer from the top of the key that goes in off the glass when you were shooting for the swish - you just put your head down, run back on D, and don't say a word. Sadly 1/2 the Red Stripes didn't show up and we got throttled in a shootout something like 8-5.

Frustrated But Encouraged

Arsenal 1-1 Aston Villa.

Very disappointing, yet encouraging at the same time. Arsenal flat out dominated: 21 shots to 5, 11 shots on goal to 3, 61% of possession to Villa's 39%, and a whopping 18 corners to 1 (of course Villa scored off their 1 corner). Arsenal had two cleared off the line, put the ball in the net only to have it called back on a verrrrry marginal offisides, and then Villa scored on a set piece (corner) thanks to a complete fuckup by Mats. Merry Christmas Olof Mellburg. The 2nd half really was one way traffic, they created a million chances, and Eboue hit the crossbar. It looked like one of those frustrating matches that you completely dominate but lose but finally Gilberto scored a great equalizer in the 85th minute and it finished 1-1. So it was one of those frustrating matches that you completely dominate and draw instead.


Gilberto celebrates his cracking equalizer.

Not getting 3 points home to Villa is pretty shit, but getting 1 point is better than getting none. And who knows, maybe Villa will turn out to be decent this season - I am reminded of Chel$ea's shock come from behind draw 93rd minute last second 1-0 win after being outplayed against newly promoted Wigan on opening day last season that at the time was so shocking, but as it turned out Wigan was a legit solid club that stayed up with ease, and Chel$ea won the title fairly easily. That being said, you have to think that the other contenders like Chel$ea, Liverpool, and ManUtd will get the full 3 points when they play Villa at home. Either way, all top clubs will unexpectedly drop points somewhere along the way, so it's not all doom & gloom.

There were some very encouraging things to take from this match on top of the fact that Arsenal completely dominated it. First & foremost, we finally got to see 17 year old wunderkind Theo Walcott, who came on for FL8 and played the last 17 minutes. Holy shit, the kid is as advertised. Amazing pace, ball control, passing vision, and a nose for shooting on goal. I was frankly suprised that he lived up to all of the amazing hype - he was fantastic and I sure am excited to see him get more playing time and develop. Another added bonus is that his amazing play today plus his great game and goal for the England 21 team in midweek, just makes Sven look all the more stupid for naming him in the England WC squad but then not having the stones to put him on the park for one minute, and I am all for anything that reveals what a dumbass Sven is.


Theo finally makes his Arsenal debut,
and what a debut it was.

Second, the new big field will be good for Arsenal. Today there was lots of space out wide on the wings in the attacking third, and Eboue made the most of it getting forward on the right - he played an absolute blinder. Ljungberg and then Walcott were very dangerous in space on the left; the space will be a good thing for Arsenal's style I think. Ljungberg ran his socks off on the wing and just like at the World Cup and Champions League final, looked much more pacey and dangerous that he did most of the last two club seasons, where it seemed that he had lost a step or two. Henry didn't do much but he did have to travel and play 90 minutes for France on Wednesday, so that was a little bit to be expected. Everyone else was very good (Mats fuckup aside) except for left back Justin Hoyte, who was pretty dodgy - I expect Flamini to start at left back against Man Citeh. It was also a bit silly of me to have Rosicky scoring a goal when he didn't even make the squad because of injury. Oops.

So a bit of a shit result today, but looking at the big picture I am very, very excited about this team. Can't wait to see them play again. And the new kit is clean: my big dilemma is which one to order: CF4 or KT5? I'm leaning towards CF4. ***Update: after reading this, there is no more doubt - I'm defintely getting the CF4 kit.

Oh, and my man Kanu scored not one but 2 goals for Pompey on his debut, and he should have had a third but Brad Friedel saved his late penalty kick - as of today he is your leading EPL goalscorer. I hope that he keeps it up and has a great year for them.


Hell yeah: Kanu opens his account for Pompey.

Kanu Signs With New Team

After 2 years with West Brom, speculation has lingered all summer about what club Kanu would move to this season since West Brom were relegated from the Premiership in May.

Kanu has signed a contract with FC Red Stripes and will play this season in the Golden Gate Sport & Social Club's Adult Recreational League, where he will earn a salary of -$60. When reached for comment all he had to say was "Hooray Beer!".*

The real Kanu, you say? Oh, sorry...

Today he signed for Portsmouth where he will join another former Gunner Sol Campbell and play for the charismatic manager 'Arry Redknapp.


This season he'll be the one wearing the blue kit.

I'm glad that he signed for Pompey - it looks like the new owner is investing some cash to try to do more than just fight off relegation, and their fans are 2nd to none in England. I have always pulled for them since the Portsmouth-Arsenal FA Cup match in 2004 when their fans literally sang and chanted at the top of their lungs for the full 90 minutes even though they were thrashed by Arsenal 5-1 (I think it was 4-0 at half). I've never seen anything like it by any fans, ever. And 'Arry is a likeable guy, a very good manager, a good quote, and has been a Gooner (Arsenal fan) since he was a boy. So best of luck to Kanu, I hope he can find his scoring boots again or at least feature more than he did at WBA. I am guessing that he will become a fan favorite at Pompey if he starts scoring goals, because he is kown to have some wacky ass goal celebrations.


Ahh, those were the days...

*Actually, this happened 4 weeks ago and this Kanu has played in 4 matches. Two weeks ago he had an amazing miss with the goal at his mercy (not quite as bad as his miss of the century, but close) but later made up for it with a nice throughball assist. This past week he assisted on 2 of the 4 Red Stripes goals, and looked like he was going to open his account with a diving header, but alas he was denied by the woodwork. Some Red Sripes fans are happy, but some are grumbling that Kanu is not living up to the $60 salary that he paid the club.


Occasional moments of brilliance, but here
he gets schooled by a 4 year old girl.

Bergkamp Testimonial Opens Emirates Stadium

DB10: Arsenal Legend.

I'd like to thank DB10 and Arsenal FC for putting on that testimonial, because in doing so they brought back my 2 favorite footballers to Arsenal, even if just for a day. Seeing both Kanu and Vieira in the red & white again was pure sweetness - I wish I could have seen the whole match instead of just highlights on FSC. Kanu went so far as to score the gamewinner late on as Arsenal beat Ajax 2-1.


DB10 & K25: like old times.

The fact that Henry and Vieira each interrupted their short summer vacation to fly to London and participate, and that a bunch of Ajax/Dutch legends including Marco Van Basten and Johan Cruyff not only turned up but also played, shows how respected and well liked DB10 in the fraternity of footballers. If only he could have converted that final chance everything would have been perfect. After the match he spoke, did a lap of honor, and then was carried off the field by Henry & Vieira.


TH14, PV4 and the rest show their appreciation

Speaking of Vieira, what a range of emotions he must have felt. Happy for his good friend, happy to see many of his old mates, etc. But it also must have felt pretty damn weird to wear the Arsenal kit again in the first match at the new stadium knowing that he is no longer at Arsenal and will not feature in all that may or may not come in the new building, especially after going to Juventus only to then losr to Arsenal in the Champions League and then see Juventus stripped of it's titles and relegated to Serie B. When he was named captain in 2002, there were 3 years when all people talked about was that PV4 would lead out Arsenal at the new ground; now it will be his good friend TH14 who will be doing that.

Speaking of conflicting emotions, just seeing Paddy in the current Arsenal kit made me both very happy and sad all at the same time.


"Joy and pain... like sunshine, and rain."

By all account the new stadium is amazing - can't wait to see it on TV when the EPL starts back up in 4 weeks. Thanks again to DB10 for all that he did for Arsenal; his importance to the club really cannot be understated.


Take care & be well, Dennis.

Props To Kanu's Heart Foundation. Now Can We Get Them Some Pro Bono Webpage Work?

Just wanted to throw some love to the real Kanu, as his charitable foundation which helps Nigerian children with serious heart problems has been named the NGO (Non Governmental Organization) of the year in Nigeria.

Outstanding recognition for Kanu, a year after being appointed the UNICEF Goodwill ambassador for Nigeria. I am proud of my favorite footabller for doing so much to give back to his community and his country, which sure as hell needs it.


A big man with a big (repaired) heart.

For those not in the know, Kanu established the Kanu Heart Foundation in 1997 (when he was only 19 I might add), a year after he was diagnosed with a serious cardiac disorder and had to have a potentially life threatening surgery to replace one of his aortic valves in his heart. The KHF mission is to help young Nigerian and African children who suffer similar heart defects.

Being an African NGO I am sure that they need all the help they can get. I'd go all Sally Struthers on you and plea for you send them the change from under your couch cushions, but the official website isn't even up and running at the moment. Maybe I should send a letter to Bill & Melinda Gates...

What You Won't Get To See At World Cup 2006

Before we get to what to watch for at the World Cup, let's take a minute to look at what we will not get to see.

Players
Lots of quality players, including Frenchmen Robert Pires, Ludovic Giuly, and Nicolas Anelka, Dutch heroes of the past Patrick Kliuvert, Edgar Davids, and Clarance Seedorf, Spanish striker Fernando Morientes, Italian marksman Antinio Cassano, Mexican striker Blanco, Argentine defender Javier Zanetti, and Brasilians Rivaldo and Julio Baptista were all left off of squads that are in the World Cup. Nigeria's absense means no Obafemi Martins, Jay-Jay Okocha, or yours truly. Wayne Rooney, one of the top 8 players in the world, may or may not play as he rushes to try to recover from a recently suffered broken metatarsal.


Barcelona Eto'o: all smiles

These are all good players, but the best player that we will not get to see this summer is Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon. He is as good a pure striker as you will find anywhere in the world. He finished 3rd in the 2005 World Player Of The Year award. In 2004-5 at Barcelona, he was the leading scorer in La Liga all year only to lose out on the Pichichi on the last day of the season by one goal. This year he won the Pichichi award as the leading scorer in La Liga, and he was also voted MOTM (Man OF The Match) in Barcelona's Champions League Final win over Arsenal (although many feel that the true MOTM for Barca was Henrik Larsson who came on and setup both goals). In short, he is a badass, and it sucks that we will not get to see him this summer on the World stage.


Cameroon Eto'o:not so much

Teams
Personally I would say that the two best teams not participating in this year's WC are Nigeria and Cameroon. Nigeria tied Angola at the top of their qualifying group but lost out on the head to head tiebreaker because they tied Angola at home and lost 0-1 on the road. Extremely disappointing that we will miss out on the flair and free-flowing play of Kanu, Okocha, Martins, Aghahowa, Obi Mikel, Babayaro, and the rest.


Super Eagles: grounded.

Cameroon's qualification miss was even closer. All they needed to do was win their final match to qualify at the Ivory Coast's expense. They were tied in extra time when they were awarded a penalty in the 94th minute. Convert the penalty and they are in the World Cup. Pierre Wome stepped up, shot right, the keeper dove the wrong way, and the ball aganozingly hit the post and bounced out. Wome was gutted, received death threats, and was a shell of himself as a player the rest of the season for Inter Milan. Hopefully he can recover and put it past him, as he is a very good player. So no Cameroon, no Eto'o, no Wome, no Lauren, or any of the rest of the Indomitable Lions. It's a shame in a way, but hopefully Ivory Coast and Angola will represent Africa well in the place of these two African giants who, like you and me, will be watching at home.


Indomitable Lions won't get a chance to not get dominated

According the the somewhat wacky and always controversial FIFA World Rankings, the top teams that did not make it through to the WC Finals are Nigeria (T-11), Denmark (T-11), Turkey (14), Cameroon (15), Egypt(17), and Euro 2004 Champions Greece (20).

So pour out a little liquor for these homies as you start to watch the tournament next weekend.


I'll miss you most of all, Kanu

Sting scores on Sting Day, Gunners beat Old Boy Kanu

Arsenal 3-1 West Brom. (Hleb, Pires, Bergkamp)

In 1995 Arsenal were a medium sized club with moderate ambition when they were able to sign world class striker Dennis Bergkamp. He was the first big signing for the club and is seen as the starting point for the renaissance that would occur over the following 10 years that transformed Arsenal into what Myles Palmer calls "the biggest medium-sized club in the world". Oh, and he looks a hell of a lot like Sting, too.


121 goals in 420 appearances for Arsenal,

Saturday was Denis Bergkamp day at Highbury, in honor of the Arsenal legend who is hanging up his boots at the end of this season. He is 36 and no longer a regular starter, in fact he did not start on the day in his honor. But he did come on as a sub and scored a nice goal to kill off the game. Kanu, now with West Brom, marked the occasion by being totally invisible (perhaps he felt bad for scoring against Arsenal in WBA's 2-1 win earlier in the year), and Alexsander Hleb marked the occasion by actually taking a shot and scoring.


37 goals in 79 appearances for Holland...

The club also announced over the weekend that his testimonial match will be the first match in the new Emirates Stadium on July 22, 2006. A testimonial match is an exhibition match put on by a club in honor of a player who has played at a club for a very long time and contributed to the club in a major way. It is given to a rare few that have been instrumental & iconic at a given club (in US baseball, the Padres would have done one for Tony Gwynn, Braves for Smoltz, etc). It is kind of a going-away present from club to player, and traditionally the gate receipts from ticket sales are given to the player as a sending off. Anyhow, good for him - he has been loyal to the club over the years when he could have gone elsewhere and made more money.


...and 17 million albums sold

Here is a good video of some of DB10's greatest goals, including a dutch dude completely losing his mind calling Bergkamp's last minute winner to knock Argentina out of World Cup 94 and put Holland in the semifinals (basically the Dutch version of "Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott! Lindsay Scott!").