Arsenal after the Transformation

Now it happens which every Arsenal fan dreaded for long. Thierry Henry signs for Barcelona after a long time of speculations linking him with the Catalan club. I have to agree that it happens at the most unfortunate time & brings along a lot of uncertainty. People have started Speculating about Welcott, Febregas & Wenger's future as well. Although I believe that Henry was close to taking over Tony Adams as Mr. Arsenal when he declares he is going to be a gunner for life & he signed a 4 year long deal last summer. Now having said that he came up with pretty lame excuses, i must say about leaving arsenal. He associates his moving away from London due to David Dein's quitting & Wenger not signing the new contract which runs out in 2008. Anyways we will wait & see if Wenger stays or not.

Now that Henry has gone & he has gone cheap. 16M is too less a price tag for a player of his caliber.

A night to remember @ Loftus Versfield, Pretoria

Spanish giants, former european champions FC Barcelona came to South Africa on June 20th, 2007 to play a friendly with Mamelodi Sundowns the current champions of South Africa. It was a long drive from Joburg to pretoria. Although on a normal day it should have taken only 20 minutes but it took us around 2 hours to reach the stadium and then finding the parking was another big problem. In the end we had to park outside in open.

We reached there around 2 hours before time. Some local teams were playing already as a curtain raiser. Then about about 7 the event started. By that time the stadium was almost full. We got the best seats, amazing view. They started the event with both teams coming out and warming up before the large crowd. Sundowns came out first, but the pick of things was when Barcelona stepped out lead by Ronaldinho. You couldn't hear the person sitting next to you coz of all the Vuvuzela's. I have to say South African can make noise :)If they are not banned in the WC 2010 then its gonna be a big support to the south african soccer team.



The team started warming up. Good thing barca was warming up on our side of the pitch and you could always see Ronaldinho, Eto & Deco pulling tricks. It was some feeling watching them kick the ball. Imagine if Henry would have been there. Anyways it was my first big soccer game so I really was having a ball & the atmosphere was a big plus.

After they were done with the warm ups there were some other performances by some dancers & singers.



The game started at 8. South African international Surprise Moriri handed the home side an early lead but late goals from substitutes Santiago Ezquerro and Marc Crosas secured the win for the visitors.
Sundowns took the lead after just two minutes when Brent Carelse latched onto Vuyo Mere's low cross before setting up Moriri, who shot past Barca goalkeeper Victor Valdes. Calvin Marlin kept Sundowns lead before the break after making point-blank saves from Samuel Eto'o and Ludovic Giuly. Even though the Spanish giants dominated the first half, Carlese, Josta Dladla and Patrick Apataki also spurned good scoring chances for the South Africans. Barcelona's persistence paid off the in the 74th minute when Ezquerro levelled from a Ronaldinho free kick. Ronaldinho was again the provider with a superb pass to Crosas, who fired past Marlin with six minutes remaining.

When the game ended it was a mess everybody trying to leave the ground. They say it can really get hectic in south africa after big matches. All the hooligans & pick pockets etc. Somebody i knew lost their camera during the game so I was really tied to my camera as I had all the barcelona stars captured in mine :) It all ended well though and we rushed back to joburg but never reached till another 2 hours. It was money and time well spent. I am gonna remember this for a long long time. Its always going to be big unless i see Henry or Delpiero play @ Ashburton Groove or Delle Apli respectively :)

Javier Saviola Leaves Barca with a bitter taste

Javier Saviola was once one of the hottest prospects in soccer world. He joined the catalan club for a mammoth club transfer fee of $28M from River Plate. The argentinian was all set to stardom with his agility, pace, finishing and flair. But he never got a chance to feature as a first team player once Rijjkard took over the club. Since then he has been a fringe player going on loans and staying on bench.


Now that he is leaving Barcelona Real Madrid seem interested. Although Arsenal i believe can't match the wage he was getting at Barca but still he and Henry together can be a lethal combo besides he gets to play first team and at his age he should only be looking for that.

Arsenal Summer Signings

Arsene Wenger: "The key is stability, and then the possible addition of one or two players who I think can add to what we are trying to do. But the key is to be strong, with a consistent belief in this team. My target is to keep the quality of our game at the level it is, try to improve it, but also give a little bit of a better balance to the team in the areas where we can be stronger."

Arsenal surely need a Center back to strengthen their squad. Kolo needs a partner there, Gallas although is versatile but still we need a strong figure like Tony Adams or Sol Campbell to form the second last line of defence.

In midfield we have a lot of talent but after Pires & Bergy left you can see a lack of that spark. Febregas needs someone of the class of Viera, Pires or Bergy to work things up. I think Ribery would have been a perfect candidate to provide that weidth we lack. Reyes is for sure not coming back but Baptista has not shown the class which was expected of him. Freddie is hanging in there.


As far as the strike force is concerned; you would think with Henry & Van Persie you dont need anyone else but who knows ?? Barca & Henry saga has been going for long now. Rumours are Barca is trying to sign Wenger up as a replacement for F. Rijjkard. If this happens then we have to fear for the worst :) Wenger is well known for convincing people & taking them along. After a long long time Wenger has finally let Frenchman Jeremie Alliadaire go. He is signing for middlesbrough for a transfer fee of 3 Million Pounds. I would really like to believe as always Arsene has a surprise for us. He will throw the ace right at the close of the transfer window i.e. if he stays. Instead of going to France I would like him to look in Spain and try to get someone like At. Madrid's Fernando Torres or Joaquin, although D. Villa will be out of our reach.