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Do Arsenal Continue Beating Spurs?
Notes from our Arsenal-supporting contingent, lead by the generally unruly but always introspective Tyler Carpenter. The derby? Impossible to predict a scoreline. Position-wise the teams are mostly even, but Arsenal should win at home. The battle will be won at midfield, and I feel that finally-approaching-form Cesc could be the decider. But the mouth-watering matchup is Gunners' right vs. Spurs' left. Will Sagna be able to make deep runs and still track back to defend Bale? Arsenal's right back has the speed, but can anyone defend Bale Kong? And who should defend Rafael Van der Goal? The '85 Chicago Bears? (Yes children, this link brings you to the Superbowl Shuffle) Arsenal wins Draws Spurs wins Arsenal goals Spurs goals League 61 42 46 234 202 FA Cup 3 0 2 7 5 League Cup 7 3 3 19 16 Charity Shield 0 1 0 0 0 Total 71 46 51 260 223 I remember this fixture last year: van Persie intercepting the Spurs' kickoff after
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Brasil v Argentina Amistoso Internacional – Melhores Momentos [video]
That is to say, the "best moments" from Wednedsay's international friendly between Brazil and Argentina in Doha, Qatar. Though aside from Messi's winning goal in extra time--and Dani Alves's half-volley in the first half which rocketed off the crossbar--there really aren't all that many best moments. Take a look:
Commentary
Why I Hate Arsenal
It's coming you know. I've been trying not to think about it, but now it's unavoidable. The North London Derby is this Saturday (7:45am ET, ESPN2). Some Spurs fans look forward to this match in the fixture list, some of us dread it - I'm very much in the latter group. It's hard to decide which one I fear more: the away fixture, where, in all likelihood, we'll lose; or the home fixture, which brings with it the pain of hope. This week, the game is at the Emirates, a stadium we have never won at. Our record is worse than that though - Spurs haven't won away at Arsenal since May 1993, when I was 11 years old. That game came a month after we had lost the F.A. Cup Semi-Final to our arch-rivals and they rested players ahead of the Cup Final. Last year, we finally beat Arsenal
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Italians travel to Austria, Act Like Assess
Normally we'd focus on the flailing Italian national side, a team struggling to rebuild after too many years relying on aging players and outdated systems. Instead, the Italians we'd like to focus on now are the small group of hate-filed idiots who felt it necessary to cross the border into Austria with the express purpose of making monkey chants at Mario Balotelli. His own countrymen travelled out of the country, unfurled a banner that read "No to a multi-ethnic national team", then hooted like apes at one of their nation's most promising attacking players. (By the way, though born in Italy he's of Ghanaian descent). Understandably, Balotelli is fed up. Sure he's a prick, but this sort of treatment is simply unacceptable. In his own words: "Honestly, I don't know what to say. If I have to hear those chants every time, you can't go forward like that. I leave others to
Commentary
Club & Country: A Look at the Compositions of Eight National Squads
While watching bits and pieces of the four international friendlies that were televised here in the US yesterday afternoon (Argentina defeating Brazil 1-0 in Doha, USA beating South Africa 1-0 in Cape Town, France over England 2-0 in Wembley, and Portugal embarrassing Spain 4-0 in Lisbon), we got to thinking about the compositions of these squads: how many of the players on each national team play for domestic clubs, versus clubs abroad? A couple different things led us to this question: looking thru the USMNT squad for this match, which seemed to us surprisingly MLS-heavy, and studying this guide to the current Seleção, which also seemed to have a larger-than-expected domestic contingent. So we thought it might be interesting to take a quick look at the data for these eight national teams. According to the Current Squad lists pulled from Wikipedia (and reproduced for reference below, after the bump), here
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El derbi ibérico: Portugal embarrass Spain 4-0
Spain's biggest defeat in nearly 50 years came at the hands of Iberian neighbor Portugal. The 4-0 thrashing was Spain’s worst loss since Scotland laid down a 6-2 spanking back in 1963 (odd time that, considering the Spanish Miracle was in full swing). In lieu of commentary, we provide a highlight clip, especially helpful for all of us without ESPN Deportes.