A Shield of Hope

It was indeed heartening to watch Arsenal concluding their pre-season with a win in the FA Community Shield, a convincing 3-0 win over League Champions, Manchester City at Wembley Stadium last night.

It was heartening too to see the turnout among GanuGooners at our viewing party. We may not chant as our counterparts in the west coast do but to be among friends watching the match was indeed a good experience.

Wosciech Szczesny looked commanding during his first appearance at Wembley this year with a number of good takes when City players managed to cross the ball into the box. He was also alert enough to stop a stiff shot from David Silva in the second half.

With Thomas Vermaelen departed for Barcelona, Arsene Wenger gave the armband to Mikel Arteta, a natural choice for me to succeed the Belgian defender. Per Mertesacker will be his deputy and the duo, in my opinion are the best choice for the job.

Mathieu Debuchy and Callum Chambers were among the new faces taking the field and quite a few were surprised when Wenger opted to start with four goals hero against Benfica last week, Yaya Sanogo in front with Alexis Sanchez, another new acquisition during the close season.

Unlike our encounters with City last season, this time there was an air of confidence about Arsenal this season, something that was missing quite a number of times which resulted in big score thrashing at the hands of our close opponents.

Despite the new faces on the field, it was an old face that opened the scoring when Santi Cazorla turned to beat City new custodian, Willy Caballero with a low shot after a good work by Sanogo in the 21st minute.

Then Sanogo was heavily involved in the second goal too when his physical attribute enabled him to hold off the challenge from a City defender before setting up Aaron Ramsey whose two touches saw the ball ending up in the net for the second time.

However the highlight of the match came on the hour mark when Olivier Giroud who came on as a substitute, struck a sweet shot from outside the penalty area that arched wonderfully over the outstretched hands of Caballero to give The Gunners their third goal.

City staged a rally towards the end of the match but could not get past what seemed to be a makeshift Arsenal defence with Chambers partnering Nacho Monreal as centre-halves with Debuchy and Kieran Gibbs as the full-backs.

Maybe it was just a glorified friendly but to register a pretty convincing win over one of your strong opponents would certainly boost your morale and confidence.

COYG!

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Germany Champions of the World!

Germany were crowned as World Champions early this morning after winning their match against Argentina at the Maracana Stadium, Rio de Janeiro.

It might have taken the Germans 112 minutes to break the deadlock but it turned out to be the decider and that certainly what mattered.

Argentina were presented with at least two excellent opportunities to score but Gonzalo Higuain wasted one early in the first half by failing to hit the target after a misplaced header by Toni Kroos had him clear with just Manuel Neuer to beat.

Higuain managed to get the ball into the Germans' goal and he celebrated like crazy before realising that it was in futility as the referee assistant had raised his flag for a clear cut offside offence.

Then in extra time, Alex Sabella's men was presented with another opportunity when substitute Rodrigo Palacios was sent clear but he could not control his lob which went wide of Neuer's goal.

Perhaps it was meant to show the efficiency of the Germans when they took the most clear cut chance that came their way when substitute Mario Goetze chested the ball wonderfully from an Andre Schurrle cross from the left before slotting the ball past Sergio Romero.

The win was the fourth for Germany but the first as a unified country (The three titles prior to this were won as West Germany). Joachim Low's men also became the first European team to win the trophy in South America with Holland coming close in 1978 in Argentina.

Neuer was named as the Best Goalkeeper, an award which I think he fully deserved with his efficient and calm goalkeeping, making saves looked easy when they were not the case at all.

However, the choice of Lionel Messi as the Golden Ball winner was a bit off the mark in my opinion as Thomas Muller or Bastian Schweinsteiger was the more deserving recepient.

Colombia James Rodriguez won the Golden Boot award as the tournament topscorer with six goals to his name.


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Dutch Took Third Place

Things got worse for Brazil after suffering their worst ever defeat during the last four match against Germany, Brazil now equaled another unwanted record when they lost for two consecutive matches on home soil, something that had not happened since before the second World war.

Brazilians who thronged the Estadio Nacional Mane Garrincha, Brasilia could be forgiven for thinking "Here we go again!" after seeing the Algerian referee, Djamel Haimoudi pointing to the spot after just two minutes after Arjen Robben was deemed to be fouled by the returning skipper, Thiago Silva.

A former Arsenal player slotted the ball past Julio Cesar and soon to be Manchester United manager, Louis Van Gaal rejoiced by the sidelines.

As much as the host tried to make a game of it, they looked like a bunch of players who were just playing for the first time with misplaced passes and not reading each other's game.

It went from bad to worse when David Luis attempted header to clear the danger fell to Daley Blind who slotted the ball past Cesar.

However, credit to Luis Filipe Scolari's men, they attempted to make a comeback in the second half and saw much of the ball as they attempted to break down the Dutch defence.

Ironically though, it was the Netherlands scored again when Georginio Wijnaldum ended a move he started with a sweet strike past Cesar to make it 3-0 in added time.


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Arsenal Confirm Sanchez Signing, Unveil New Puma Kits

Two big names in football made their appearance at Arsenal yesterday.

Firstly of course the new Puma kits for the 2014-15 season.

With the deal started on the first day of July, many images have appeared on the internet on how the new kits going to look like.

The biggest shock was to see the teaser which showed the three Arsenal players modelling the kits which were white.

WHITE?! I almost sh*t in my pants. Luckily common sense prevailed and it turned out just the frame without any colour on.

When they were finally revealed, they were enough to make me drool.

Then the announcement by the club that one of the most speculated about transfer since the 2014 World Cup started has been confirmed.

Chilean striker, Alexis Sanchez has joined The Gunners from Barcelona, making it one of the rare occasions when the movement is from The Catalan club to North London rather than the usual direction.

The fee was not disclosed but it is believed to be in the region of GBP30 million (RM163 million). His contract is reported to be for four years which will see him spending the best years of his career at The Emirates.

It is good to see Arsene Wenger and Arsenal are concluding tranfers early and frankly I was quite fed up with the rumours that linking us with almost every available players on the planet.

Despite they made my mouth water with expectations I do not welcome them as they tend to be just page fillers with no chance of coming true.

I welcome surprises though, good ones such as the one with Mesut Ozil last season. Sanchez was also a surprise and a few more surprises like this are most welcomed.


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Lucky Argentina

So it is Germany versus Argentina in the 2014 World Cup final.

The two time world champion could not find their way past the Dutch during regulation play and only booked their place in the final via a penalty shootout.

Their goalkeeper, Sergio Romero was the hero when he first stopped Ron Vlaar's attempt and then denied Wesley Sneijder.

With The Abiceleste finding the net through Lionel Messi, Eziquel Garay, Sergio Aguero beforehand, it was left to Maxi Rodriguez to put the ball past Jasper Cillessen.

The match itself was cagey, with both sides probing each other trying to find any weakness but could not really find the telling pass that would open up the defence.

For me, it would be great if The Dutch could win because of my long time dislike for Argentina. However, it was not meant to be and now it is up to Joachim Low and his players to win the title for Germany.


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Germany Demolish Sorry Brazil

It was something totally unpredicted.


Brazil 1 Germany 7.

in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

A World Cup semi final match.


Perhaps many have predicted a win for Germany but not with such scoreline. It was a total annihilation, not just to the host's World Cup hopes but to their pride as a footballing nation.

The defence was in total shambles with the German players carving chances at will. Nobody in a yellow shirt was really defending, as if they were saying to their opponents: "There you go sir, have a pop at our goal and don't forget to come back."

It seemed like losing Thiago Silva was a bigger factor in this defeat than losing Neymar. Perhaps the presence of their influential skipper could have a given the defence more confident, something that was lacking in the partnership between David Luis and Dante.

However, against an efficient German side the a win for Brazil also seemed unlikely but at least the defeat would not be as demoralised as this one.

I for one could not believe that the scoreline read 5-0 by the half hour mark.

Thomas Mueller came in unmarked to open the score from a corner and Miroslav Klose put himself as the player with most world cup goals with a strike in the 23rd minute.

A minute later Toni Kroos notched the third before helping himself to his second and Germany's fourth in the 26th minute. Sami Khedira then made it five three minutes later.

With the camera zooming on the Brazillian crowd, their faces were all sort of emotions from disbelief, sad, stunned, everything but happy.

Brazil restored some sort of stability in the second half and had a go at Manuel Neuer's goal a few times but the goalkeeper stood firm.

The Germans meanwhile looked like they were embarrassed to score with chances being missed on a few occasions.

However Andre Schurrle had no such problem when came on as a second half substitute to score a brace. His club-mate Oscar meanwhile ruined Manuel Neuer clean sheet by scoring a consolation goal as the match entered the final minute.

It is Germany that will contest the 2014 World Cup final, with Argentina and Holland playing today to determine who will win the right to face the three times World Cup winner in Maracana on Sunday.



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Into The Last Four

The 2014 World Cup in Brazil has to be one of the has many football fans dreaming of, seeing four top teams in the world battling it out for the most coveted trophy in football (the real one and not of the American kind).

Host and five times winner Brazil saw off another South American rival in the form of Colombia in the quarter final but their passage had to be paid with a high price indeed.

They lost charismatic captain, Thiago Silva who received his second yellow card of the tournament but the biggest cost would be the loss of the influential Neymar who suffered a fractured vertebra after a challenge by Colombian defender Juan Zuniga.

Early goals by Silva just after seven minutes gave them the lead which came under threat quite a number of times from Colombia. What Jose Pekerman's men lacked this time was the final pass that would open up the Brazillian defence.

David Luis's fantastic free-kick from 30 metres out gave them a two goal cushion but James Rodriguez reduced the deficit ten minutes before time.

It was his sixth goal of the tournament, making him the leading scorer so far. However it was not enough as Brazil held on for a place in the last four while keeping their dream of winning the trophy on home soil alive.

The host are now will take on three times winner, Germany in Belo Horizonte.

In an entertaining last eight clash between the Germans and France at the famous Maracana Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Mats Hummels headed goal in the thirteenth minute turned out to be the only goal of the match.

There were three Arsenal players turning out for their respective countries with Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud coming on as substitutes for France while Mesut Ozil played over eighty minutes for the Germans.

The next day saw Argentina taking on Belgium in Brasillia. Gonzalo Higuain's instinctive strike after seven minutes separated both sides at the end of ninety minutes halting Marc Wilmots' men's dream of repeating their 1986 success in reaching the last four in Mexico.

The win set up the fifth meeting between the Argentines and Holland in the World Cup after Louis Van Gaal's team secured their place through a penalty shootout win over Costa Rica.

The match between both sides was the first one that failed to yield a goal during regulation and extra time of play.

Van Gaal's decision to replace his usual goalkeeper, Jasper Cillessen with Tim Krul paid dividends after the Newcastle goalkeeper stopped two Costa Rican penalties to give his side a 4-3 win.

Costa Rica were going home with their heads held high, unbeaten in their five matches in Brazil and caught the imagination of many football fans with their display.

For me of course, there was Joel Campbell who based on his performance during the tournament could find himself in the first team squad when he report back for training later.

Indeed, the semi-finals promised to be a mouth watering affair for many football fans.


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