Morning everyone.
Cape Verde are through the knock-out stage of the World Cup after a 0-0 draw with Saudi Arabia, and they’ll face Argentina as a reward for their progress. Roberto ‘Pico’ Lopes against Lionel Messi. He doesn’t get that kind of test in the League of Ireland, it’s fair to say, but what a story, and the Cape Verde flags are becoming more and more prominent in this part of Dublin. It’s great!
In their two games they’ve kept two clean sheets, their 40 year old goalkeeper Vozinho is one of the stars of the tournament, and I suspect his Instagram following will rocket again when they play the World Cup holders next week. I didn’t see it, but looking at the stats they generated 1.4 Xg to Saudi Arabia’s 0.39, and had 15 shots to 7 for the opposition, so this doesn’t look like one where they hung on gamely for a draw. While it’s highly likely Argentina will have too much for them in the next game, it’s still one of the feel-good stories of this tournament, and I’m sure the celebrations in Cape Verde were off the charts last night.
Their head coach, Bubista, said afterwards:
We have shown that nothing is impossible. We have represented our country but we also represent Africa and small countries around the world.
Elsewhere, there was Arsenal involvement from Mikel Merino who started as Spain beat Uruguay 1-0. For all the talent they have, the Spaniards haven’t yet been convincing at this World Cup, and needed some help from Uruguay’s veteran keeper for the only goal of the game. They need more Raya and Zubimendi, if you ask me, but given the worries we have about our players being overly burdened, I imagine non-Spanish readers will be quite happy they’re on the bench. Spain will play the winner of Austria versus Algeria in the next round.
Leandro Trossard scored twice [video 1 – video 2] for Belgium as they spanked New Zealand 5-1 to finish top of their group on goal difference, with Egypt finishing second after a 1-1 draw with Iran. There was late drama in that game when Iran thought they’d scored a late winner, but it was ruled out for offside. They now have to wait and see if they’ll end up as one of the top 8 third place teams.
Trossard said:
We have performed very well. We are happy now because we’re number one. Now we have to go to the round of 32, and we’re all ready to deliver.
France destroyed Norway 4-1 thanks to an Ousmane Dembele hat-trick but there was no Martin Odegaard (or Erling Haaland for the Norwegians), while William Saliba didn’t play for France. Both sides had already qualified so there was room for the coaches to rest some key players. And finally, Senegal are through after beating Iraq 5-0, becoming the first African side to score 5 goals in a World Cup game.
Tonight the knock-out line up will be completed when England face Panama, Croatia take on Ghana, Colombia play Portugal, Uzbekistan play DR Congo, Jordan face Argentina and Algeria and Austria go head to head to decide who faces Spain in the next round. Another busy night of football.
From an Arsenal perspective, there’s not much happening, but the slightly spurious sounding links to Bruno Guimaraes yesterday became much less so when James and David Ornstein reported on the failed bid. The involvement of agents as intermediaries is not uncommon at all, but Kia Joorabchian being involved might raise an eyebrow or two.
The reaction to it has been interesting, with some opposition based on the player’s character which, it’s not unreasonable to say, is questionable at times. Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, for all the scrutiny we receive for various reasons, definitely can’t be criticised for being dirty, for want of a better phrase. Even the last ‘bad boy’ we had was Granit Xhaka, and he was a player whose reputation was way overblown in that sense. So, I understand why some people might look askance at a player who does have a nasty edge, not least because we’ve experienced it first hand more than once.
The fact that he turns 29 in November (until then though he remains 28 because that’s how it works), is another factor. That would make him quite a short-term signing when, perhaps, we need to be a bit more strategic with the age of our squad. Again though, it could be about consolidation of a ‘prime age’ group of players. Newcastle seem to be resistant to the idea of selling him, especially as Sandro Tonali is more actively pursuing a move away this summer, but as I said yesterday, this does tell us Arsenal are looking for a midfielder of a certain kind, so let’s see how it all plays out.
Ok, time to leave it there for today. Have a great Saturday wherever you are.
