Good day to you.
I'll start with the bit that I have somehow missed due to all the excitement surrounding the World Cup: Vela is not going to Arsenal. Not this season, not next, not in the foreseeable future. Real Sociedad has confirmed the Mexican will stay on with them at least till 2018. It seems they have bought out the clause Arsenal has included when selling the Mexican and now Vela is all theirs, while we get richer by €11 million.
I couple of weeks back, I've discussed the potential signing of Vela. And I stick by to what I've said: the Mexican is a decent striker, but he's unlikely to feature at Arsenal on a regular basis. Moreover, Vela has already tried and failed to make an impact during his time with the Gunners and it's not unreasonable to suggest he could have become a flop a second time.
However, I haven't exploited the possibility of Arsenal warming up interest in Carlos, just to get some money from any potential buyer or Sociedad, for that matter. Yet it seems Arsene and his transfer team have done just that. They've forced Sociedad to hand over a respectable sum of money in return to rights to the striker we didn't need anyway. They way I see it, we've just pulled off a very smart move. Well done.
In other news, Jack Wilshere has given an interview to the Guardian, in which he touched on England's failure and prospects. Of more interest to us, however, are his remarks about his own prospects and the targets our Number 10 sets for himself:
This year he did make progress, however. Wilshere has played quite a lot before sustaining another injury in a pointless friendly in March, an injury which has kept him out almost till the end of the season. This time he seems to want to do his best to avoid his fitness levels dropping and making his mark during 2014-2015:
It looks like Jack is even willing to sacrifice a week or two of his holidays in order to get a proper pre-season. Really, you can't fault the effort and desire of this lad. Hopefully, this will go down as a campaign in which the Englishman makes a breakthrough Ramsey-style. Fingers crossed.
Finally, the World Cup. Teams from Groups F and E played their third (and final) games yesterday and the two games I watched were delightful.
Argentine vs Nigeria has made my top 3 (for now), with Ghana vs Germany and Holland vs Australia being the other two. I haven't yet decided, which of the three is the best, and I don't think I need to. All of them were hugely entertaining.
Back to Argentine and I've turned the TV on just in time to see Messi smash the ball into the roof of the net following a rather unlucky (for the Nigerians) rebound after the initial shot. No sooner than the words "Messi is going to save Argentine again" has left my lips, teams were back on level terms.
Nigeria stormed upfield immediately after the restart, Musa rounded off Sabaleta and curled in a beautiful effort past Romero.
Argentine responeded with a flurry of attacks Enyama saving well from Di Maria's distance shot and then denying Messi, after the latter hit the target from the free-kick. He would be unable to repeat this feat a couple of minutes later.
Messi struck another beautiful effort over the wall from a direct free-kick and this time Enyama didn't even had time to jump. He just stared helplessly as the ball rippled in the net.
However, 120 seconds after the half-time break, Nigeria equalised once again, Musa sealing his brace. Argentine refused to give in and three minutes later went in front, Rojo tucking away a cross with his head.
Soon after the goal Messi left the field, as Alejandro Sabella decided to wrap his best player in cotton wool, as Argentine's qualification was all but assured. The game didn't die down after that, with both teams threatening to score. Di Maria picked up where Messi has left off, while Musa can count himself unlucky to add a third to his collection.
Nigeria looked better in the closing stages and it's a shame they haven't got any points for their effort, but they still qualified, seeing as as Bosnia has beaten Iran 3-1. Thumbs up for everybody involved. That includes the Bosnians, they bow out in style.
In Group E, Ecuador has taken on France, while Honduras played Switzerland and at first I opted to watch former.
35 minutes into the game I regretted this decision, as both France and Ecuador were determined not to play football. So I switched over to Switzerland vs Honduras, where the European team was already 2-0 up, thanks to a brace from an in-form Shaquiri.
This choice I didn't regret. Though Switzerland has won 3-0 (Shaquiri completing his hat-trick), the game was thoroughly enjoyable to the very last minute.
I thought Honduras did really well and deserved to score at least one, but, just like Japan a day earlier, they were undone by ruthless counter-attacks from Switzerland. I still want to thank Honduras for this spectacle, as I cannot remember a 3-0 in which the 0 side played that well.
Phew, that's it for today. Back tomorrow with a review of the last two groups.
Until later
I'll start with the bit that I have somehow missed due to all the excitement surrounding the World Cup: Vela is not going to Arsenal. Not this season, not next, not in the foreseeable future. Real Sociedad has confirmed the Mexican will stay on with them at least till 2018. It seems they have bought out the clause Arsenal has included when selling the Mexican and now Vela is all theirs, while we get richer by €11 million.
I couple of weeks back, I've discussed the potential signing of Vela. And I stick by to what I've said: the Mexican is a decent striker, but he's unlikely to feature at Arsenal on a regular basis. Moreover, Vela has already tried and failed to make an impact during his time with the Gunners and it's not unreasonable to suggest he could have become a flop a second time.
However, I haven't exploited the possibility of Arsenal warming up interest in Carlos, just to get some money from any potential buyer or Sociedad, for that matter. Yet it seems Arsene and his transfer team have done just that. They've forced Sociedad to hand over a respectable sum of money in return to rights to the striker we didn't need anyway. They way I see it, we've just pulled off a very smart move. Well done.
In other news, Jack Wilshere has given an interview to the Guardian, in which he touched on England's failure and prospects. Of more interest to us, however, are his remarks about his own prospects and the targets our Number 10 sets for himself:
"I think it is [a big year for me]. I’m not young any more. I’m going to be 23 in January and that’s a good age for a footballer. It’s a big season for me, it’s a big season for Arsenal".Well, what can I say? Jack has had e very good season four years back, when he shined against Barcelona and made close to 50 appearances overall. Since then his development has somewhat halted, with Jacky missing an entire next season due to a horrendous injury and then having an unconvincing 2012-2013 campaign, again due to various knocks and bruises.
This year he did make progress, however. Wilshere has played quite a lot before sustaining another injury in a pointless friendly in March, an injury which has kept him out almost till the end of the season. This time he seems to want to do his best to avoid his fitness levels dropping and making his mark during 2014-2015:
"As for me, pre-season is not far away. I’m going to have maybe a couple of weeks off, but I don’t want to lose my fitness.
I’m going to carry on training, do my bit, because I only played two games in the last three or four months. I will go back [to Arsenal] early. They are going away [to New York] and I’m not sure I’m going on that, but I will definitely still do my little bit. My fitness is on the way up and I don’t want to lose that."
It looks like Jack is even willing to sacrifice a week or two of his holidays in order to get a proper pre-season. Really, you can't fault the effort and desire of this lad. Hopefully, this will go down as a campaign in which the Englishman makes a breakthrough Ramsey-style. Fingers crossed.
Finally, the World Cup. Teams from Groups F and E played their third (and final) games yesterday and the two games I watched were delightful.
Argentine vs Nigeria has made my top 3 (for now), with Ghana vs Germany and Holland vs Australia being the other two. I haven't yet decided, which of the three is the best, and I don't think I need to. All of them were hugely entertaining.
Back to Argentine and I've turned the TV on just in time to see Messi smash the ball into the roof of the net following a rather unlucky (for the Nigerians) rebound after the initial shot. No sooner than the words "Messi is going to save Argentine again" has left my lips, teams were back on level terms.
Nigeria stormed upfield immediately after the restart, Musa rounded off Sabaleta and curled in a beautiful effort past Romero.
Argentine responeded with a flurry of attacks Enyama saving well from Di Maria's distance shot and then denying Messi, after the latter hit the target from the free-kick. He would be unable to repeat this feat a couple of minutes later.
Messi struck another beautiful effort over the wall from a direct free-kick and this time Enyama didn't even had time to jump. He just stared helplessly as the ball rippled in the net.
However, 120 seconds after the half-time break, Nigeria equalised once again, Musa sealing his brace. Argentine refused to give in and three minutes later went in front, Rojo tucking away a cross with his head.
Soon after the goal Messi left the field, as Alejandro Sabella decided to wrap his best player in cotton wool, as Argentine's qualification was all but assured. The game didn't die down after that, with both teams threatening to score. Di Maria picked up where Messi has left off, while Musa can count himself unlucky to add a third to his collection.
Nigeria looked better in the closing stages and it's a shame they haven't got any points for their effort, but they still qualified, seeing as as Bosnia has beaten Iran 3-1. Thumbs up for everybody involved. That includes the Bosnians, they bow out in style.
In Group E, Ecuador has taken on France, while Honduras played Switzerland and at first I opted to watch former.
35 minutes into the game I regretted this decision, as both France and Ecuador were determined not to play football. So I switched over to Switzerland vs Honduras, where the European team was already 2-0 up, thanks to a brace from an in-form Shaquiri.
This choice I didn't regret. Though Switzerland has won 3-0 (Shaquiri completing his hat-trick), the game was thoroughly enjoyable to the very last minute.
I thought Honduras did really well and deserved to score at least one, but, just like Japan a day earlier, they were undone by ruthless counter-attacks from Switzerland. I still want to thank Honduras for this spectacle, as I cannot remember a 3-0 in which the 0 side played that well.
Phew, that's it for today. Back tomorrow with a review of the last two groups.
Until later