So the almighty juggernault that is the Liechtenstein national football team has finally been put to sword. Faced with a task of Herculean size ahead of them the England team stood up to, matched and ultimately put this almighty foe to rest. Sven’s men are world beaters once more!
In all seriousness though, it was a job well done. Sure Liechtenstein had conceded 79 goal in the 27 games previously but when you have just drawn with Macedonia and been played off the pitch by a team of drunken egg chasers (only kidding Australia, I love you really!), goal difference is not your highest priority! Was it a techincally sound performance? Not really. Will a similar performance be enough for victory against the Turks? Hell no. In fact a draw would be fortunate. But at the same time they got the three points. Beat Turkey on Wednesday and England are top of their group after 4 games. Also en route to qualification, and ultimately winning Euro 2000, Arsenal, erm sorry France, only managed a 2-0 home win over Andorra, who may well actually be below Liechtenstein in the world rankings (though strangely their dreadful form would still rank them above Liverpool …). So it’s not all doom and gloom for Sven’s men yet. Come Wednesday though it could be a different story.
So what does this all have to do with Arsenal? Well I shall tell you. Its two minutes into this evenings game. Liechtenstein whip a free kick in from the left which leaves one of their players with a clear header from six yards out. Thankfully for England, it becomes apparently that he unclogs drains for a living as he totally misses it and the ball drifts harmlessly wide. But this make me think to myself “will England actually lose this game? Surely not! Well at least if they do, there are no Gunners playing tonight who can take the blame.” This last thought somewhat perturbed me. Arsenal are the top side in England and reigning national champions yet the English national side have no Arsenal players in their team?! Okay we have three English players injured but surely the champions of England would have more players in the sqaud than that. But no. In fact come next season we may only have 2. So this made me think about the English players in the first team squad, and seeing I had yet to receive my advance copy of Alan Balls’ new book “when puberty comes”, which I had been intending to preview in my next column I decided to talk about them here.
Starting from back of the pitch to the front we have David Seaman. Being England’s No.1 for the past ten years has been a roller coaster ride for Big Dave. The hero of Euro 96 many pundits expected Seaman to hang up his boots after Euro 2000, along with Tony Adams and Alan Shearer at the top of their England careers. But Seaman chose to stay on until Japan 2002 and prior to the hour mark of the quarter final match with Brazil this looked to have been an astute decision. We all know what happened then, so im not going into it again but since then David just has not been the same in an England shirt. Superb for Arsenal? yes. Consistent for England? Not by a long shot. Frankly after the game with Macedonia he looked a broken man. Will he stay on till Euro 2004? That will depend on whether he has a game at Highbury then. My thoughts are that we will stand down at the end of the season, still in the hearts of Gunners around the world.
Backing him up is Stuart Taylor. Will he follow in Seaman’s footsteps and become England’s new number one. Well it will all depend on whether he follows in David’s footsteps and becomes Arsenal’s new number one. So far this season he has proved an able deputy, his shot stopping ability in particular having caught many fans eyes. However his postioning is still to be called into question as well as occasionally his decision making. But in Taylor’s defence this will come with experience as he is only early 20s so his future looks bright. A future Arsenal and England number one? In my opinion yes. Its just it probably won’t be the next number one keeper each of them has.
Moving into defence we have Ashley Cole. Despite being only 21 Cole has firmly established himself as Arsenal’s first choice left back, and seeming Sven’s England left back too. A revelation going forward and a commited tackler, Ashley is one of the most exciting defenders to watch in the game. There are however question marks over his defensive positioning at times, but as with Stuart Taylor this will improve with experience. Barring injury Ashley will be left back for England and Arsenal for a long time to come.
Potentially I could type a novel on Martin Keown. He is quite simply one of the greatest defenders to play the beautiful game. Theres nothing pretty about his style but he always gets the job done. But as he has retired from international football, there is not a lot I can say about his international future except he was far too undercapped. This moves us onto Sol Campbell. Despite a shaky, injury driven start to his Arsenal career, since that game at Spurs in November 2001 he has been a collosus. Its no surprise Arsenal don’t look anywhere near as defensively astute when he isn’t playing and for somebody who looks as if he is nothing but strength and power he has a clever and calculating defensive brain. Having turned 28 he is in the peak of his career and will continue in the heart of Arsenal and England’s defence for the forseeable future.
Okay, we are halfway through the squad so now is a good time to take a break. I will cover the English Midfielders and Forwards in my next column. Topics to be covered include: Why hasn’t Ray Parlour 50 caps for England? Is Jermaine Pennant the next big thing? And could Franny Jeffers break Bobby Charlton’s top goal scorer record? Thats all for this edition, except to say, please feel free to provide me with any sort of feedback about this column, all critisicms will be taken on board.
Till then fellow Arsenaloholics, my name is Alastair Wood, and this has been Hot Stuff.