The fallout from that night in Paris continues.While some have accepted it as one of football’s great injustices (and the ensuing drama/debate as part of the reason we all love sport so much), others have chosen to self-medicate in the warm, comforting arms of conspiracy theory.
Damien Duff is part of the latter camp. Talking to reporters from a shadowy car-park alcove, the Fulham winger revealed the World Cup 2010 playoffs have been orchestrated by a higher power, made up of German sportswear giant Adidas, the French Football Federation and Michel Platini:
Do I think it’s a conspiracy? Definitely. FIFA want the big teams in the World Cup, they want France in the World Cup, and it may sound silly but they want teams sponsored by adidas. Adidas sponsor the World Cup, they sponsor France. Michel Platini has a lot of influence as well.
Maybe we’d have had a better chance of going to the World Cup if it was sponsored by Umbro.
Hilariously, The Sun point out, in his rage Duff seems to have forgotten, as well as his weekly pay packet from Fulham, he gets paid a £100,000 a year to wear football boots made by … Adidas.
What to do now? So far, The Spoiler has heard: ‘ban Henry from the World Cup’, ‘ban France from the World Cup’, ‘replay the fixture’, and a whole lot of rude words directed at Thierry Henry - mainly all on TalkSPORT.
van Persie, Fabregas and Arshavin > Henry, Pires and Bergkamp?
After Arsenal’s 4-1 Champions League cakewalk against the Eredivisie champions last night, Arsene Wenger was moved to compare his young team to the unbeaten Gunners squad of 03/04:
We’ve never had as many options on the creative side. We still have Nicklas Bendtner and Theo Walcott who are offensive players who are not available.
Denilson, Eduardo, Tomas Rosicky did not start - that is why I was amazed when people said, ‘Buy, buy, buy’. And Carlos Vela as well… I forgot him!
Fair assessment, or another one of Le Prof’s attempts to tack an extra psychological boost onto an impressive performance? Ljungberg, Henry, Pires and Bergkamp had racked up 16 goals and 10 assists in all competitions by this time in 03/04 season; while van Persie, Arshavin, Bendtner and Fabregas are already on 24 goals and 23 assists.
In terms of depth, Wenger has a point - as backups go, Eduardo, Rosicky and Nasri are a more desirable trio of reinforcements than Reyes, Wiltord and Kanu were. But does the overall attacking quality of the squad match up?
Titi expresses wish to team up with Professor Wenger once again
Thierry Henry has spent the majority of his career under the instruction of Arsene Wenger, and makes no secret of his love of England (he loves him some tea and scones). In light of these facts, the Barcelona star has anounced his intention to return to these shores to team up with the huge-brained Frenchman once again - even if it means assuming the humiliating role of an Adam Sandler-style waterboy:
“I’ve always said you go back to where you belong. I’ve never stopped saying that I love Arsenal and I’ll one day go back there. How? I don’t know - maybe a waterboy!
“I just love the club and one day I’ll go back for sure.
If footballers kicking a ball with the top of their foot isn’t enough excitement for you, the last seven days has really been a treat, as a trend of using an alternative means of transport in getting ball to net has emerged. Aston Villa’s Gabriel Agbonlahor started it off last Wednesday night against Cardiff, Andrei Arshavin continued on Tuesday but the Milan-Zurich game last night saw the phenomena reach its zenith, with one of the great back-heels from former West Ham defender Hannu Tihinen (he didn’t learn that from Steve Lomas down at the Boleyn), in addition to a similar goal from Porto’s Falcao.
The Spoiler’s six favourite back-footed compliments are after the jump.
French captain doesn’t hate manager as much as we thought
French daily Le Parisienthis week claimedThierry Henry stood up during a French team meeting on Friday and berated Raymond Domenech, labelling his training sessions as boring and complaining that the team didn’t know what to do on the pitch. However, the Barcelona star has now denied the quotes and the apparent rift between the French national team and its manager.
Henry appeared on French station TV1 clear up the situation:
“No. Nothing happened on Friday.”
“We had a discussion, as often happens between a team and their coach, but it was a rather constructive discussion.
“I’ve been saying for some time now. But when you do not win the game it is much more complicated to get this message across. There is a great atmosphere in this squad. I can say I see it every day.”
We have little doubt that the original quotes in le Parisien were fabricated - this could represent the first time a newspaper has been found to make something up since the last time The Sun published a transfer rumour - but judging by the contemptuous glare in the picture above, there’s clearly no love lost between Henry and Domenech.
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