Morning.
We had our first real ‘wow’ moment of the World Cup yesterday when Curacao, an island nation with a population of just over 150,000 scored an equaliser against Germany. The goal came just before the hydration break ad-break, and the joy was palpable, if short lived.
Afterwards, the game played out as you’d probably predict, with Germany running out 7-1 winners in the end. Kai Havertz scored twice, first from a penalty towards the end of the second quarter of the first half, and then late on, running through on goal and dinking the ball over the goalkeeper very nicely to wrap up the scoring. He also won the man of the match award, and said afterwards:
To start the tournament that way is always good, you know, it’s a good result for us and should give us a lot of confidence now.
After that, Japan played the Netherlands and the first half bored me so much I went to bed. So, you can thank me directly for what looked like a much more entertaining second half. Twice the Dutch went ahead, twice Japan responded, and Daichi Kamada’s somewhat accidental 89th minute equaliser earned them a point. There were couple of goals from set-pieces in this game too, please furnish me with the relevant outcry and opprobrium that football teams should seek to ruin the game we all love in this way. It’s also nice to see that former Gunner Takehiro Tomiyasu got on in the second half, he’s a player whose injury issues still give me pangs of real regret.
There was Arsenal involvement afterwards too, with Piero Hincapie playing the full game for Ecuador, but they were beaten 1-0 by the Ivory Coast. Amad Diallo scored a 90th minute winner in that one, former Gunner Nicolas Pepe played a part too.
Then, in the game at Insomnia O’Clock in this part of the world, Viktor Gyokeres was in action as Sweden battered Tunisia 5-1. Sweden were 2-1 up, with the Arsenal man having already provided an ‘assist‘ for Alexander Isak’s goal, before the Liverpool man returned the favour as Big Vik made it 3-1. He also had a good chance for another but blasted over from a position you’d expect him to do better from. Still, a positive start to the tournament for him and for Sweden who face the Netherlands next.
Today, Spain start their campaign against Cape Verde, and there could be Arsenal involvement there. It seems a bit mad to me that David Raya, after the few seasons he’s had for us, isn’t number 1 for his country, but Athletic Club’s Unai Simon seems to be the preferred choice. Martin Zubimendi and Mikel Merino are also in the Spanish squad and I’d expect at least one of them to play a part in this one – it seems like a very decent chance to get some minutes under Merino’s belt in particular after his long lay off in the second half of the season.
Leandro Trossard’s Belgium face Egypt after that, which is where the Arsenal interest ends for today. The other two games see Saudi Arabia face Uruguay, before Iran take on New Zealand at SoFi in Los Angeles. That’s a big stadium for two teams whose support is likely to be a bit limited for obvious reasons, let’s see how well the tickets have sold locally!
I will say this, for all the understandable and justified disquiet about aspects of this tournament beforehand, watching videos of fans at the games, and fans all over the world, enjoying themselves is what has always made the World Cup special. When it boils right down to it, all the corruption and everything else just cannot dampen the joy people get from football, and the joy they bring to football.
I said this about the scenes around Arsenal’s post-title celebrations, but there are those who are desperate to convince you that we can’t get along. That so-called differences are things that should divide us and keep us apart, at loggerheads, and sadly it’s the oldest trick in the book. But then you see people from everywhere who are brought together by something as simple as 11 men kicking a ball around against 11 other men, and you realise their outlook is dangerous and pernicious and unfortunately far too pervasive these days.
It shouldn’t take football for that to be made clear, but what a fantastic thing it is that the game we love can do that in all kinds of ways. From the streets of North London to the USA, Canada, Mexico and beyond. It’s great to see, and we need more of that in our day to day lives.
Righto, I’ll leave it there for now. We will have an Arsecast Extra for you a bit later on, James is on Chicago time so we’ll be recording in the morning for him, which means the pod will be out late afternoon in this part of the world. We’ll put out the call for questions on BlueSky @gunnerblog.bsky.social and @arseblog.com in little while, so when that happens fire away using the hashtag #arsecastextra – or if you’re an Arseblog Member on Patreon, leave your question in the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server.
For now, have a good one.
