My cat is a Gunner

My cat Whisky has been known to enjoy a football match here and then, but yesterday he came out of the cat-closet to show me that he is a Gunner.

I sat down to watch Leeds versus Arsenal and Whisky was soon comfortably seated in front of the TV, something he has done before:

But it did not take long before the fat and lazy bastard became clearly upset at an initial (but eventually feeble) Leeds pressure:

But the Arsenal started to move forward, and Whisky moved forward to support his team:

I had never seen him this committed as I asked him to move aside so that I could watch the match. But as the stubborn cat that he is, he refused to move away as Leeds got a corner kick and Whisky was meowing for the Arsenal defense to stand strong.

Arsenal was soon able to put more pressure on Leeds, and it was the Spaniard Martin Zubimendi, who following a corner kick, brought Arsenal ahead, and Whisky just looked at me with his "I-told-you-so" arrogant cat-look:

Of course, like any fan, he wanted to look at the replay again and again:

The little Gunner-cat was so happy he really wanted to rub in "we are winning, we are winning".

As the reality of Arsenal's dominance became clear, Whisky became satisfied, and he cuddled with me on the couch as Noni Madueke, Viktor Gyokeres and in the end Gabriel Jesus with a splendid strike, gave Arsenal a 0-4 victory that have put the Gunners 6-point clear of Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, and possibly their first Premier League title since 2004.

But just as Whisky, Arsenal must learn not to become too arrogant. With 14 matches left Arsenal must keep their heads cold to take the title.

If they manage to take the title, Whisky will surely be celebrating, while I will be trying to make him shut up.
 

Value for money

Chelsea Manager Enzo Maresca illustrated European arrogance or ignorance when he had to explain why European sides were not performing in the Club World Cup. According to the Italian it was because European sides play more matches, and said that his own team, Chelsea, had played 63 matches this season, and asked (rhetorically?) how many matches the Brazilian teams had played this season.

"70 matches", was the reply from a Brazilian journalist.

Indeed, the playing calendar of most South American sides is packed with matches in a lot of tournaments because they fight with a problem that European sides, specially Chelsea, don't have: they need money. 

So when Mr. Maresca wants to justify that Brazilian sides are doing well in the Club World Cup he very conveniently ignores that he has a squad of 46 millionaires valued at USD 1 billion, while Fluminense has a squad of 36 players valued at USD 86 Mio. 

Surely the Brazilians under their manager Renato Gaucho are more value for money, and today Fluminense will hopefully again defeat Chelsea and European arrogance.

At least we now know that Chelsea have not studied Fluminense!

Viva Esuiza!

Spain has always entered World Cup's as favourites, but disappointed.
This year has been no exception, but rather been hailed everywhere as Spain's World Cup after they apparently broke their curse by winning the Euro 2008, and obviously has one of the best and see-worthy teams in the world, that has cruised through qualification and friendlies with entertaining and technically skilled football, something that is more and more absent from national football teams than ever before.
With this, Spain undoubtfully remains a favourite, in spite of the mishap today of losing 0-1 to Switzerland. The Swiss victory was perhaps healthy for a Spanish national team that has historically never handled the pressure of expectation well, and who too obviously ignored the weariness that most Spaniards do have about their team: like a Spanish friend of mine said, "I don't think there was a single Spaniard who, deep down, didn't know this was going to happen. We've been beaten too many times". This was obvious after years and years of disappointments (where the Euro 2008 is the sole exception to the rule!).
In spite of this, Spanish press and even many of the players have been very guilty of overestimating themselves, by talking more about Portugal or Brazil in the last-16, rather than actually trying to get there past Chile, Switzerland and Honduras. In that sense, Spain's loss was refreshing, and may in the end do them good by reminding them that one has to play one match at a time, and that all teams are good!

Nevertheless, in a footballing sense, it is a pity.
As any football fan will know, it will be much, MUCH more fun to see a team that plays good football like Spain go through, than such a defensive bore as Switzerland, whom I personally remember for one of the most boring matches I have seen in my life during the last World Cup. In a tournament where most teams have been defensive and afraid to lose, Spain eliminated will be a huge loss, and just for that, Spain should go through.
That said, congratulations to all Swiss fans for this victory - they have every reason to be proud and to celebrate!
Cheers!

Thank you Olympique Lyon

All due respect to Real Madrid, which I have never liked. But the royal Spaniards have a tendency to blow themselves up after one good match: their incredible 3-2 victory against Sevilla last weekend, had caused them to predict another large victory over Olympique Lyon. The French had been the far better team in the first match in Lyon, although they only won 1-0. Still, a star like Sergio Ramos had before the match said that Real Madrid would win 3-0.
I think it is wisest for players to shut up before matches, because they only look like fools. Real Madrid started well, and were leading 1-0 at halftime. But they were a complete disaster in the second half in particular, and Lyon should have won the match after their equalizer.
It is always wonderful to see arrogance pounded, and arrogance was yet again defeated by Real Madrid's elimination.