Arsenal v. Birmingham

Yawn… too much beer, too much packing, too much moving, too much everything.

Just a quick blog this morning ahead of the match against Birmingham since I am tripping up to Seattle for the match and the first ever Arsenal America Seattle Branch meet up. There probably won’t be a blog tomorrow because I am moving into my new house. If you’re thirsty for Arsenal news, check out Arseblogger and The Arsenalist — the links are in my blogroll.

Ok, team news first: van Persie and Djourou are out injured or have the flu and, of course, Toure, Eboue, and Song are on duty in Africa. No word on a formation yet but certainly expect to see Gallas, Senderos, Clichy, and Sagna at the back; Cesc, Flamini, Hleb, and Rosicky in the middle; and then some combination of Ade, Dudu, and Bendtner up front. I say “some combination” because if I were the manager I could play any of those three as starter. If I were to guess, I would guess Ade and Dudu. But, le Boss c’est le Boss and he will do what he must (holy shit, I’m like some kind of Sartre here!)

In other team news, Almunia is ready to become an English citizen if Capello will pick him for the English national team. Now, I know this kinda pisses of the Brits, but come on. The guy is an immigrant and England has been berry berry good to him. It makes sense that he would want to give back to the country that has provided him with a great living, a career, and a lifetime supply of yellow hair dye.

If Capello is interested in me for the national team I am ready to immediately take up British citizenship. Unlike some British keepers, I do not eat too many pies, nor do I use butter to cure my gloves, and I play for Arsenal so I know how to curse players in virtually every language.

See? He even speaks English better than most Brits. Can you imagine that same statement coming from Jermaine Defoe? Can you imagine what he would have sounded like ordering that haircut?

Gordon Bennet, me WAG told me I needed a slicker chicker. Here’s a tenner, make me look like I just split me loaf! OI! Watch me toss this crumpled up bit of paper into that dustbin inches from me hand… ‘ere hand it back, lemmie try again. YEAH, still got it!

The only thing the Almunia for England campaign is guaranteed to do is get a wingeing press in an uproar over what country the guy was born in. I don’t want to offend anyone who’s identity is tied to some bizarre nationalistic holdover from the 20th century, but people immigrate all the time and it’s OK if a guy born in Spain wants to become an English citizen so he can play for the English national team. It’s not the end of the world. Well, maybe it is the end of an old way of defining oneself. And maybe that’s not such a bad thing. So, maybe it is the end of the world — as we know it. But it’s not the end of the world end of the world. You know, the one advertised on sandwich boards.

What I guess I’m trying to say is that if he’s good enough, and qualified, and wants to do it, then why not? It would take serious balls to step up to this task, and gold plated brass cojones to do so as a “foreigner.” An English Keeper with balls like that might just be the missing piece to the English national team.

The good news is, if he becomes an English citizen and joins the national team, then maybe the commentators can stop crying about how Arsenal don’t have any Englishmen!

That’s all I’ve got, talk to you later!

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