World Cup; Day 1

Yesterday the World Cup kicked off with the host nation South Africa coming up against Mexico, Vela started the game and looked really fresh, he had one amazing pass and a goal disallowed, due to a rule that I wasn't even aware of, but it had something to do with two opposition players having to be in front of you, and when the African goalkeeper went out to take down the ball from a corner, he misjudged it which led to Vela being completely free and he easily scored while Pienaar stood on the goal-line, the reason that it went to offside was because Vela stood behind the goalkeeper when a fellow Mexican player headed the ball towards him.
The game ended 1-1.

Later in the evening Uruguay came up against France, we had three Arsenal players in that game, and all played the entire ninety minutes, Diaby (a surprise inclusion to the starting eleven), Gallas and Sagna.
Diaby played amazingly well in the game and that is probably the reason to his involvement during the entire game, but disappointment for France as the game ended 0-0, even though an Uruguay player was shown red, due to a horrible tackle on Sagna who luckily didn't get injured!

And some news from the transfer window, lots of rumours about Joe Cole signing for Arsenal, but Senderos has left for Fulham, and Cesc Fabregas is still an Arsenal player.

Summer Signing; Marouane Chamakh

He has been on the radar for a year now, and finally he has signed a long-term contract with the Arsenal!
It was official yesterday, so not much is yet known, but the fact that he has signed is enough for now! He is now our no. 29!

Lots of talk has already emerged about Cesc leaving for Barca, but I hope that we can keep him at the club for at least another year..

Hannover 96 vs. Arsenal

1-0, Pre-season, AWD-Arena, Germany, 29/7 -09
Fabregas 8

Arsenal were in good control the entire game, but they were up against the hardest side they have faced so far during the pre-season games.
The Germans were the first to get a good chans after seven minutes, but Arsenal responded brilliant, van Persie slid in a perfect pass for Cesc to pick up and go past the goalkeeper before easily place the ball back in the net.
Arshavin was close to double the tally just after the goal, but his shot was blocked by the Hannover 'keeper.

Just before the game the sad news arrived of Toure's depature, he went to Manchester City like Ade, after some times speculations, we are all gonna' miss him, but this will of course open up for Vermaelen.

Barnet vs. Arsenal

2-2, Pre-Season, Underhill Stadium, 18/7 -09
Arshavin 43, Barazite 51

Today Arsenal played their first pre-season game, not so many players from the first team featured in the game because the game is quite early on, but it was a nice chance for the youngsters and of course Vermaelen to play(he was really good), but highlight this Tomas Rosicky played his first game in like 18 months in front of 5065 fans, there where a lot of cheering i can tell ya !

The starting eleven included Almunia, Djourou, Gallas(finally back), Vermaelen, Silvestre, Wilshere, Randall, Frimpong, Rosicky, Arshavin & Watt.
The Barnet goalkeeper had a busy first half, with lots of Arsenal chances which were created by Rosicky, it just proves what an assess he will be this season.
In the 43rd minute Sanchez Watt set up Arshavin by the far corner and the russian finished high on close range, 1-0 to the gunners.
But just before half-time Barnet got a free-kick that unfortunately Yakubu climbed highest on, and could head home 1-1 to Barnet.

As expected there were lots of changes in half-time, in fact, the only Arsenal player left on pitch was Vermaelen, who played the entire 90 minutes.
So the changes was as follows; Vito Mannone, Craig Eastmond, Luke Ayling, Thomas Cruise, Conor Henderson, Francis Coquelin, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Nacer Barazite and Jay Simpson.

Arsenal regained the lead after just 4 minutes, and they did it in style, or should I say Nacer Barazite did it in style for the third time in a row in just these pre-seasons against Barnet.
He was forced out of the penalty area, but found little air and took a shot from 20 yards, up in the top corner of the target.
After that Arsenal seemed to be in control, but unfortunately with 8 minutes of original time to go, when Charles popped up in the box and found the bottom corner of Mannones goal.

'But that was not the story of today. Welcome back, Tomas Rosicky!'

Unfortunately it wasn't all good news for today, this evening Ade signed for Man City, so i guess we won't be seeing him around on Tuesday when the team heads to Austria for training camp.
But he hasn't been all that commited to the club, and I think that I'm not the only one to say that, the boss has been looking over Chamakh from Bordeaux, but says that he is not close to signing anyone yet since we got a quite big squad, but he will assess the situation in the next couple of games.

So as we say Welcome back Tomas Rosicky, we also say Goodbye to Emmanuel Adebayor.

Summer Update

It's been a while since i wrote something, so I thought that a little update in the middle of the summer could be good (;


Silly Season;

Arsenal signed Thomas Vermaelen in the beginning of summer, he is a belgian defender from Ajax, where he was team captain.
Right now they are trying to sign Felipe Melo from Fiorentina, he is a brasilian who has been working a lot with Gilberto Silva in the national team, it looks like it will be some money and a swap with Eboue..
There has been some rumors about Adebayor, some saying that Milan will offer lots of money and Flamini for the togolese striker.


Some Players have extended their contracts;

Robin van Persie, he turned down Inter, Juventus, Chelsea and Manchester City before extending the contract (;
Kieran Gibbs
Jack Wilshere
Lukasz Fabianski
Aaron Ramsey
Theo Walcott


That's pretty much it for the time being, some signings that doesn't really but are quite interesting still, is that Real Madrid has signed Kaka, Ronaldo and Benzema, so far!
United signed Michael Owen! As a replacement for Ronaldo perhaps.. But then signing an old has-been isn't really what i'd have in mind, but well shall see and judge from that instead.

Arsenal have so far 10 pre-season games, and is as always hosting Emirates Cup, which this year will make room for Paris Saint-Germain, Rangers and Atletico Madrid.


I have not gone through my summer non-footballing way, so I can take the chance now;

In the beginning of summer I went to Ylva's place in the country, and was there for a week, we had a really good time, here's a picture of the house and some freaky frogs that her cousins brought with them;;



After that I was home a couple of days before I went to Rome!

We saw Colosseum, The Vatican State, Pantheon, 'Forum Romano' and much more, we were there for three days, Annas friend Elin joined us for this one.
Here is a picture of Colosseum;;