Promise, Leadership and Tortillas

Mid-week international friendlies are going on right now, but do little to quench my thirst for Arsenal and Premiership football. England take the field at OT tonight against Greece (1:45 pm CDT) with new manager Second Choice Steve McClaren and captain John Terry. Not only is Becks not captain (after his stepping down post-WC) but he isn't even on the squad. Beckham is a good footballer, but not great. Plus he was way to passive as captain in my opinion. Will Terry be any better? Who knows, but I do think the vice-captain $tevie G should have been the one to skipper the side.

The youth teams were also at it this week and Walcott scored after 3 minutes against Moldova for the England U21 side. Although the match ended 2-2 and Theo was subbed off after 66 minutes, it was still a good run for him. I hope he continues to develop and I’m sure he’ll get few first team starts this season along with the Carling Cup and early FA Cup rounds. Cesc and Reyes both played for Spain in their draw with Iceland, and RvP will likely take the field for Holland tonight against Ireland.


Moving back to Cesc, I know I’ve already lauded the kid (he’s only 19 by the way) and am amazed by his maturity, but I’m going to do it some more. As mentioned before and stated in this article, we've been watching this kid grow and develop over the last few years and he has gotten better and developed so fast it is stunning. It all came together last season, in my opinion, when he totally owned Patrick Vieira in the CL match against Juve. It reminded me of the Vader and Obi Wan scene from Star Wars:


I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again, at last. The circle is now complete. When I met you I was but the learner. Now, I am the master.

I know, a dorky comparison, and Cesc is actually good-not evil and not that Vieira is either... but oh well, it seemed right to me at the time. Anyway, Cesc is not only maturing on the pitch, but off as well. Maybe AW can get him to teach some yoga classes, Zen training seminars, or something to the rest of the team! It is the exact opposite of Cesc’s actions that will cause Cole to be vilified by Arsenal faithful.

Not much else going on football wise though. No new transfers and we’re only a few days from the start of the season. So, get you gear out, your kit shined up and set the alarm clocks!


In my world outside of football (which is limited ;)) I finished my Japanese book “Out” as mentioned previously. It was pretty good and not what I expected. As a result, I'd like to read some more Japanese literature, which will win me big points at home! An interesting aspect of Japanese culture and literature/movies is that they don’t really beat around the bush and aren’t afraid to dive in to dark subjects. Also, it is interesting to watch movies based on Japanese novels such as The Ring, and The Grudge. In these stories, there is evil and it can’t always be stopped. If you come across it, you’re screwed! The hero of the story doesn’t always win. Now I am reading the book “The Tortilla Curtain” which deals with immigration issues in southern California. It is starting alright and we’ll see how it goes. The book was sitting around the house when I finished my other one, so there you go.

Hasta manana.