Germany does it better

Evening everyone.

So, Germany has become champions after beating Argentine yesterday. It took Die Mannschaft 120 minutes to do so and, in the end, that's what Lowe's side deserves.

The German coach sprung a bit of a surprise by starting Christoph Kramer ahead of an injured Sami Khedira, but the former was substituted at the half-hour mark. The unfortunate German collided with Garay, taking a hit to his head in the process, and had to be replaced by Andre Shurrle. Kramer looked dazed and not quite realising what's going on around him even after the final whistle blew, so fingers crossed he's now alright and the injury didn't have any lasting repercussions.

The game itself was, on the one hand, very tedious, but, on the other, a defensive masterclass from both teams. Argentine tried to counterattack, while Germany took matters into their own hands, but all this lead to only three moments in the entire first half. Higuain put a shot wide after being clean through, then scored after being flagged offside. Germany only came up with Howedes header which cracked against the post.

The second half was more of the same. Messi really had to put Argentine aheaNearly on, but missed from a killer position, while substitute's Palacio finish was as bad as his haircut.

Germany struggled to create chances of their own, much of this was down (I suspect) to a quiet game from Toni Kroos. And so the game went to extra-time.

Gotze came on for Miro Klose (who was applauded all over the stadium) and turned out to be the one Germany needed. In the 113th minute he received a brilliant pass from Andre Schurrle, chested the ball down and sent it into the bottom corner with his left. Beautiful goal right at the death, leaving Argentine with basically no time to respond.

Of three our guys only Ozil started, with Mert substituting Mesut before the final whistle, but Poldi really stole the show by taking to the pitch first and then making a bunch of epic selfies (Schweinsteiger and Merkel ones stand out). What an experience for our three Gunners.

I also wanted to say a few words on Mario Gotze. Though I generally dislike the guy (maybe because he left Borussia for money), he did this to earn back some of my respect. If he makes a duplicate of the medal for his buddy, that'll be just great.

In other news, three German Gunners may just become four, as reports from Spain suggest Arsenal has reached an agreement in principle with Real over Sami Khedira and now we just need to finalise the details. I don't quite understand the sum of €29 million for a guy with twelve months of the contract left, but what the hell. Our coffers are full of cash, let's get rid of it. Even after the acquistion of Sanchez, Debuchy and Khedira we'll still have a few quid left. Which could have been spent on Fabregas. Aargh, forget it.

Speaking of Fabregas, I don't like what Chelsea is doing. No, rather, I don't UNDERSTAND what they are doing. It looks to me like the Blues just buy off players that had a good season (Costa, Luis) and try to hi-jack Arsenal's deals (Fabregas). They behave exactly like people tell they behave: like moneybags. Buy everything that moves and hope it works out. If not, get rid of them and buy other players. No thinking process attached. Buy expensive players and also try to hinder Wenger by buying who we really need and they obviously don't. Despicable. But it looks like this time Arsene has the upper hand. Quickly and quietly buy Sanchez and Debuchy (stand by for official confirmation. Should be any minute now) and lure away an unhappy Khedira using our lads in Germany's national team. If those three two join us in the not-too-distant future, Mourinho will be helpless. Gosh, I'd like to see his face upon the announcement of Khedira. Om-nom-nom.

Finally for today, pre-season will kick off for those Arsenal players that didn't participate in the World Cup and it will start with a game against Boreham Wood on July 19th. We are expected to field a relatively strong side there, so I'll do my best to find a broadcast. Should be worth it.

That's it for today, until later