The goal was brilliant–showing he may very well be the perfect striker: the strength of Drogba, the creativity of Henry, and the finishing of Owen. He’s the complete package, folks. But don’t take my word for it–watch it for yourself, it’s at the 1:25 mark.

Breathtaking, isn’t it? As vespo pointed out in the comments, leave it to Eboue to score a goal where he (a) didn’t even shoot; and (b) hurt himself. Well, he said he wanted to be the next Eddie Murphy–has anything Eddie Murphy done in the past decade made you laugh as hard as that?

If you haven’t: there was a cross into the box which fizzed past the far post, and looked like it was headed over the touchline for a goal kick. But off one hop, it hit the arm of Thierry Henry, and deflected back into play in a perfect spot for him to center it directly into the path of the oncoming William Gallas, who headed home the winning goal. Two former Gunner captains combining for the golden goal. Ireland, who played bravely and who would have otherwise gone to penalty kicks for the right to go to the World Cup, feel aggrieved. And I absolutely, positively sympathize with them. To come so far, to play so well against a more talented team on their home field, only to be sent home by a goal which should have been disallowed…Well, that’s just awful (not the mention UEFA’s decision to adopt the seeding system for the playoffs after qualification had already started, which was complete b.s.). And I know they’re hurting today. Just to be clear–the goal shouldn’t have counted, and Henry could very well have been (justifiably) carded.

But I’m writing this because I think once the European/English media gets a chance to react to it tomorrow, we’re going to hear terms like “cheat” applied to Thierry Henry. The state of the modern/online media and blogosphere is that whoever can write the most controversial/provocative thing is going to get the most attention, so I fully expect to read outlandish pieces calling for Henry to retire from international play, admit to cheating, be banned, etc. Unfortunately, it’s the nature of the beast. But the bottom line is this–the play we got to watch over and over again in super slow motion happened to him instantaneously. He had to make a decision, which was more pure reflex than anything else. But the media tomorrow might try to interpret this as some premeditated decision which reflects poor judgment and/or malicous intent on his part. It was not.

Now. I’m not saying he was right, and I’m not saying the goal should have stood. But I’m a full-grown adult, who probably shouldn’t have football players as role models, but I do. And # 1 on that list in Thierry Henry. And it’s not just because of how great he was on the field, but it’s because of the character and class he showed off the field over the course of many years as a Gunner. We know that. We remember that. When the Lilliputian scene of hundreds of small, petty “journalists” and bloggers trying to take down a true giant of a man takes place tomorrow, I would urge all Arsenal fans, and all football fans in general, to reflect on the fact that what happened yesterday is completely incongruous with what we’ve seen from Henry over the course of the last decade or so:

I guess all I’m trying to say is that I think the haters may be out in force tomorrow, but no matter what they say, we all know that Thierry Henry was always, is, and will always be a class act, through and through. And we’ll never forget it.

If you’re curious, we have 29 players listed in our first-team. Which means we are only a few injuries away from having literally more than half our team injured. Maybe there’s something to this November curse after all.

In what, you may ask, super-important match was he playing in to take on such an injury? Was it the World Cup? Nope. The European championships? Nope. A qualifier for one of those tournaments? Nope. It was a friendly. A completely stupid, meaningless friendly. It’s so good to know that our chances of winning the league took just took a significant hit so Holland could draw 0-0 with Italy a full 8 months before their next significant match.

I don’t really know what to say. I’m just really, really, really angry. But anger won’t actually do any good. I’ll just say that at some point the clubs are going to have to actually make a stand–they’ll never be able to absolutely stop players from playing for their countries (and I’m not suggesting that they should), but it seems perfectly reasonable that a club would have legitimate objections to its players playing in a completely meaningless match at this point in the season. It would be nice if more countries were like Mexico (NOTE: that’s the first time I have ever started a sentence with that clause), who didn’t schedule matches for this international break because it didn’t see the need to interfere with its players club obligations. Most international federations won’t do this, if for no other reason than they want the revenue. Well, Dutch football federation, I hope the money was worth it. But to them, of course it is–they’re not the ones that are going to have to pay van Persie’s wages and cover the cost of his medical care and rehabilitation for the next 2-3 months, so what do they care. And therein lies the problem. But you’ve heard me make this argument dozens of times already, so I won’t repeat myself any more than I already have.

Sigh. Arsene Wenger said it better than I ever could:

Gerard Houllier’s thoughts on the matter [international football] echo mine. He thinks that what the national coaches are doing is like taking the car from his garage without even asking permission. They will then use the car for ten days and abandon it in a field without any petrol left in the tank. We then have to recover it, but it is broken down. Then a month later they will come to take your car again, and for good measure you’re expected to be nice about it.

I know I’m probably just impulsively speaking out of anger, but you know what? I’m tired of being nice about it–at some point we need to think about getting a lock for the garage.

Of the 15, only 5–Diaby, Gallas, and Sagna for France, Arshavin for Russia, and Song for Cameroon–are playing in meaningful senior international matches, as all of their nations are trying to qualify for the World Cup. Interesting that Nasri didn’t get the call from France–I suspect that if he stays healthy the rest of the season and France qualifies, we will see him in South Africa. Eboue is also representing Ivory Coast in a World Cup qualifier, but they have already qualified so nothing is at stake for them in the matches.

Elsewhere, Kieran Gibbs and Vito Mannone will represent their countries in qualifiers for the UEFA Under-21 Championships. Other than that, it’s all friendlies–Cesc for Spain, RvP for Holland, TV5 for Belgium, Eduardo for Croatia, Ramsey for Wales, Senderos for Switzerland, and Wojciech Szczesny earning his first senior call-up for Poland, ironically replacing the injured Lukasz Fabianski.

This is less than the ordinary number of Gunners on duty, mainly due to injuries (Walcott, Fabianski, Clichy, Vela, Djourou, Wilshere, Bendtner) and guys who just came back from injury or haven’t had a chance to play much this season (Nasri, Rosicky).

At any rate, it should make the training ground a little less lonely. Usually, on international breaks, I always have this image in my head of Arsenal “practices” which always makes me giggle for no reason. But I’ll share it with you anyway. Arsene Wenger sits in a chair off to the side of the practice pitch, doing that “trying to stay awake thing” where his eyelids start to flutter and then close, his head slowly sinks forward, and then he suddenly snaps his whole head backwards and looks around to see if anyone saw him falling asleep. Meanwhile, on the pitch, Denilson and Almunia stand about 15 yards apart, disinterestedly kicking the ball back and forth. After about an hour of this, they call it a day, and then at the end of the international break Arsene gives a press conference talking about how the players who didn’t called up trained hard and are match fit. I also wonder if Almunia and Denilson have bonded from spending so much time together during these breaks, or whether they’re so sick of only having the other one to talk to for approximately 6-8 weeks out of every season that they can’t stand the sight of one another.

Anyway, enough idle international break speculation. For their sakes I suppose I hope that France, Russia, and Cameroon qualify for the World Cup, although, honestly, if more Arsenal players were to get 2 months of rest this summer and come back refreshed for the start of the season, I can’t say I’d be too upset. Most of all, hopefully everyone makes it through the break without picking up injuries–the fact that some of our star players are playing in meaningless friendlies in which they could pick up a significant injury which could alter Arsenal’s season does not sit well with me at all, but we’ve been over that before and I’ll refrain from beating that particular dead horse today.

Happy Veterans/Armistice Day.

Four more teams punched their tickets to South Africa yesterday. And it brings the list of players currently affiliated with Arsenal who will likely play in the World Cup at 8:

–Robin van Persie (Netherlands)
–Theo Walcott (England)
–Cesc Fabregas (Spain)
–Nicklas Bendtner (Denmark)
–Emmanuel Eboue (Ivory Coast)
–Carlos Vela (Mexico)
–Philippe Senderos (Switzerland)
–Johan Djourou (Switzerland)

There are others who may sneak onto their national teams (Denilson, Almunia) which have already qualified, and a number of Gunners who play important roles for national teams which still have a chance at qualifying (Clichy, Sagna, Gallas, Nasri, Song, Arshavin). I suspect when it’s all said and done we’ll have about a dozen or so players feature for their national sides in the World Cup.

But enough with the internationals. Arsenal is back, and we actually have five games between now and the end of the month. We have a triple-decker “ham” sandwich of league fixtures against Birmingham, West Ham, and Tottenham, plus a Champions League fixture against AZ and the Carling Cup match-up with Liverpool. Five important matches in 14 days will really show us what we have and dictate what happens the rest of the season, and that kind of fixture congestion can really tax the squad’s depth. Fortunately, the return of Walcott and the imminent return of Nasri (who says he’ll be back for the West Ham game next weekend), give us a few more options for substitutions and rotation.

This will be our first match-up with Birmingham since the Eduardo horror tackle/Gallas hissyfit game which was in many ways the beginning of the end of our title bid in 2007-2008. It’s a game we should expect nothing less than 3 points from, and a good chance to exorcise those demons. But I’ll be back with a full preview tomorrow.

Finally, in what could be big news, Stan Kroenke has again increased his share of ownership in Arsenal, and now owns 28.9% of the club’s shares. If he gets to 29.9%, rules mandate that he formally launch a takeover bid. In the past, he has consistently denied any intention of doing so, and has claimed that he is content to own just less than that and let the current board and management run things as they have in the past. And frankly, he has given us no reason not to take us at his word–unlike that Uzbeki d-bag Usmanov, who was transparently trying to take over the club with David Dein, Kroenke has maintained cordial relations with the board and current club management, and hasn’t criticized the club or Wenger in an obvious attempt to make fans feel like his ownership is the only chance Arsenal has to win trophies. Still, with Kroenke’s substantial stake in the club plus his substantial wealth, the fact is that he could probably take over the ownership of the club with a snap of his fingers, so it bears monitoring.

The basic question is, which do you care about more, your club or your country? I figured the most direct way to ask this would be–which would you rather have happen: (1) the club you support (I included Arsenal in the poll, since I assume most people viewing this are, in fact, Arsenal supporters, but feel free to substitute your own club if you’d prefer) wins the Champions League (or if you’re a Liverpool fan, you can substitute the Premiership); or (2) your home nation’s international side wins the World Cup?

If you’re a regular reader of the site, or just put 2 and 2 together and recognize that I spend an inordinate amount of my time writing about Arsenal, you know that for me, it’s no contest. While I support the USMNT and try to watch all their matches, Arsenal is first in my heart. If the USMNT were to somehow someday win the World Cup, I would be very happy and would celebrate with my countrymen; if Arsenal win the Champions League, I’d probably just blackout from pure joy, do something completely crazy, and wake up 5 days later in a Tijuana prison with a large portrait of Arsene Wenger’s face tattooed across my chest.

But it’s purely a matter of personal preference, and I certainly am not passing judgment or scorn upon anyone who feels the opposite. If anything, the view that “you’re an American, and you should support your national team over some English club you’ve never even seen in person” makes a lot of sense. How about it? Which is more important to you? Feel free to explain your vote or discuss the issue generally in the comments section.

Which Would you Rather Have Happen?(answers)

It’s just infuriating. Wenger is, understandably, upset. The international teams, especially in situations like this where they don’t have another match for another month, have zero incentive to protect a player’s health. What does Russia care if Arshavin is out for a couple of weeks? As long as he’s healthy again by October, it doesn’t hurt them. Meanwhile, the club, which pays Arshavin’s salary, and in the cases of some players, is responsible for the player’s development and training, is the one who suffers.

Honestly, at this point, I’m all in favor of doing away with all these international breaks, and just having a few international breaks per year–give them all of January and the summer. Instead of playing qualifiers two at a time, which is a pain because then you have to go back and remember who is playing well, which country is in which group, what the scenarios are, etc., why not have them play 5 or 6 at a time over the course of a month? This would build up momentum and be more exciting, almost like a mini tournament, and allow team members to get used to playing together for a longer period of time. More importantly, if Guus Hiddink wanted to play a player just coming off injury for 90 minutes, that would be his prerogative, but if theplayer re-injured himself, it would be the international team that suffered the consequences. I guarantee you under this scenario international teams wouldn’t be quite so callous about players’ injuries.

Elsewhere, the news was apparently good, although I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t hear about another knock or two as the players return to England today. Rosicky played 60 minutes for Czech Republic, which is good news–I doubt he’ll play on Saturday, but we could see him on Wednesday. Fabregas played and scored for Spain to clinch a world cup berth. Eduardo scored Croatia’s lone goal in the 5-1 beatdown they took from England. Bendtner scored in Denmark’s 1-1 draw with Albania. Arsenal alum Thierry Henry scored in France’s 1-1 draw with Serbia. The official site has a full round-up here.

At any rate, Arshavin is out–I’ll cover this more in my preview tomorrow, but I imagine either Eduardo will start in Arshavin’s place along the front line, or we’ll go to a more standard 4-4-2 with Diaby getting a start. Here’s hoping it’s the former–for all the controversy about the dive, Eduardo’s been playing well lately, and I get the sense he’s pissed off and has something to prove, and could have a goal or two in him.

I also hate the international break because of the mind-numbing boredom it brings. As evidence of this, the official site unveiled its first in a series of “Fantasy Battles.” The concept is, basically, that an Arsenal player sits down and answers a series of stupid questions about “who would win a fight between…” Yes, I’m serious.

Anyway, in the initial installment, Gael Clichy is in the hot seat. Clichy’s picks:

1. A bear could beat a crocodile (because “it’s strong and I think it’s really powerful”)
2. Spiderman could beat Batman
3. Lara Croft could beat Wonder Woman

I’m honestly not sure which is more troubling–that our club and our players are spending time on stuff like this, or that Gael Clichy actually thinks Lara Croft could beat Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman is a lost Amazon with super strength and super speed (not to mention command of the animal kingdom and an invisible jet). Lara Croft has…what? Big boobs and a gun? Pfft. Regular readers will know that I’ve criticized Clichy’s decisionmaking over the past year or so, but even I didn’t think it was this bad.

This is what the international breaks reduce us to–talking about crocodiles and Wonder Woman instead of football. Thank God it’s over, hopefully we won’t hear about any more injuries today. Man City preview coming tomorrow.

Arsenal fans get stick from fans of other teams for their lack of English players. As an American, I don’t care either way, but as Arsenal is technically a team in England, I can see how it would be a problem for some people who do care. We’ve been able to point to the lack of success in the England team, and the high price commanded for English players who are merely competent, for reasons why we have so few, but it’s continued to be something to barb us with. Some have even suggested that the reason the English national team is so bad is because elite teams like Arsenal prefer to field teams of foreigners rather than have English players.

Theo Walcott is an anomaly in our team- a genuine English boy. He’s been in and out of the starting lineup since coming to Arsenal as a highly rated teenager. Some sections of the Arsenal fanbase has been critical of him, but I’ve always been of the opinion that he needs more time- he’s still a teenager, after all. Very few players are brilliant at his age- Cesc may have been an exception, but not all of our players will be Cesc. And clearly, he’s been growing each year. His finishing has improved, he’s learned what we’d hope he’d learn. He’s not 100% consistent yet- he’s still only 19- but he’s definitely growing as a player.

That was seen tonight. Great finishing, great instincts, and a performance that has all of England purring. He’s shown on a large stage what he’s learned in his two years at Arsenal, and my hope is that he’ll bring it back to London (and Blackburn, and Bolton, and Kiev). It’s got to be a massive confidence boost for him, to score so many goals at such a level. I hope it doesn’t go to his head, but he seems like a grounded kid, and he’s in a good place to shield him from such forces. We’ve done a decent job of it so far.

Which brings me (eventually) to the point. Theo’s learned a lot about football at Arsenal- finishing, passing, beating defenders, etc. He’s not the finished product yet. He still has a lot to learn. But Arsene clearly saw in him an English player who’s able to learn the Arsenal system, and right now, that’s helping England improve their lackluster performances. Instead of ruining the English national team, there’s evidence that Arsenal may just be the one to save it.

It’s not just Theo. There’s also the English youth. We’ve got a lot of Academy kids in the English youth system, and while they’ll not all make it in the Arsenal first team, they’re all learning how to play like Arsenal. They learn how to play in our style, that advanced, lovely sort of football we all adore so much. And it’s starting to work in England. A recent friendly between the England U-19s and the Holland U-19s had 5 Arsenal academy players involved- 4 English boys and 1 Dutch one. England won 2-1. Both goals were scored by our own highly rated young forward Rhys Murphy. The captain of the English boys was Henri Lansbury, considered one of our brightest midfield prospects (illness and concern over his commitment hampered his form, allowing other English prospects like Jack Wilshere to pass him), and he impressed on the night. This is the generation of kids raised at the Academy. English boys who’ve been with Arsenal since they started learning about football. Who’ve learned to play our way nearly since the beginning.

There are no guarantees in football. There’s no promises that Theo will become the next England superstar and raise them to the heights that English fans feel they deserve. There are no promises that our prospects like Rhys Murphy and Henri Lansbury and Gavin Hoyte (brother of Justin, considered to be a better prospect than the elder one) will make it, both at Arsenal and international level. But maybe, just maybe, we’ll be what saves England from perpetual disappointment.

Let’s look at what we can take a bit of credit for right now.

Robin Van Persie
Started and played 69 minutes for the Netherlands in their 2-1 win against FYR Macedonia. I watched a decent amount of this game, and RvP looked pretty pedestrian. Not that he was poor, but he didn’t really stand out in what turned out to be a tough match for the Oranje. There was a moment or two when I thought he was down injured for awhile, but he made it through unscathed.

Lukasz Fabianski
Got the nod in goal for Poland again, this time getting a clean sheet against San Marino. Not sure if or when Artur Boruc will be back, but for the time being our number two is the number one for the Poles.

Nicklas Bendtner
Started, played 90 minutes, and scored a goal in Denmark’s 3-2 win over Portugal. Had to be one of the shock results of today, especially since it was in Portugal.

Johan Djourou
Started and played 90 minutes in Switzerland’s 2-1 loss to Luxembourg (wtf?). How does a squad that has played in the last two major tournaments lose to this tiny nation? On top of that, do any Swiss fans care?

Theo Walcott
4-1 England wins. Theo hat trick. That’s enough. Just bring it to the Emirates please. Every week.

Cesc Fabregas
Didn’t get the start this time around, and it didn’t matter all that much, as Spain strolled 4-0 over Armenia. He came in for Xavi in the 73rd minute.

Les Bleus
Bad news and good news from the French camp. Samir Nasri was ruled out of the Serbia match with knee pain. Other than that, it was a much better day – Gael Clichy got his first senior cap and played the whole match. William Gallas and Bacary Sagna both started as well, as the Arsenal backline made up 3/4 of the French defense. Oh, and they won 2-1.

Carlos Vela
The Mexican started and played 70 minutes as they beat Canada 2-1. Seems like a lot of 2-1 results today, no? Caught glimpses of him playing, nothing that really stood out in a soggy match in the CONCACAF region.

I think that’s covered all of them. Anything or player I’ve left out, leave below with other witty comments.