So where to start today? Well, how about with today's plethora of international matches?
The U17 World Cup continues in the Far East, and our young midfielder Fran Merida scored today as Spain defeated Syria 2-1 at Ulsan, with Fran playing the full 90. Nice to hear another Arsenal midfielder knows how to score. He's another who many want to put in the mould of Francesc Fabregas, but I'm not about to go there. He's one we should let develop on his own without the pressure of living up to Cesc's accomplishments.
Fran also played 90 in Spain's opening match of the tournament, a 4-2 defeat of Honduras, also at Ulsan.
Meanwhile, over in Jeju, the English are through two group matches to this point. Arsenal are represented by three of our boys, Henri Lansbury, Gavin Hoyte, and Rhys Murphy. All three lads played at part in the opening 1-1 draw with North Korea-Rhys for the full 90, Henri starting and coming off at 84', and Gavin coming on at the 71' mark.
Their second match went much better, and the English trampled New Zealand 5-0. Only Gavin saw action in this one, and he came on as a sub at 52'.
Their next match will be a tough one, as England meet Brazil, who have walked through their first two matches 7-0 and 6-1. Yikes.
Everywhere else there seemed to be hundreds of thousands of international friendlies, and Arsenal had a number of players representing their homelands.
One of the day's biggest matches saw Germany down England 2-1 at the new Wembley. Ouch. Not much our Jens could do this time about England's goal. It appears his recent blunders didn't affect his play for this match.
Nicklas Bendtner played a full match for Denmark. and that's all the good news he had today. Ireland defeated the Danes 4-0. In Denmark. Well, at least Nicklas got to work on his fitness levels.
Francesc Fabregas played all of 18 minutes or so as a sub in Spain's 3-2 away win over Greece. Even better, Fabregas received a yellow a minute after coming on. How very Arsenal of him. There's a good lad.
Even better news from Sarajevo, where Croatia defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina 5-3. Eduardo da Silva scored a fine headed ball on 18'. One-an Arsenal player scored. Two-an Arsenal player scored with his head! Sadly, it seems yet another match between these two neighbours was marred by crowd trouble. It's just beyond sad now.
Another pair of Gunners got in a full 90 minutes playing against one another. And while that's a good thing for defender Philippe Senderos now that he'll be filling in for the injured William Gallas, was it really necessary for Robin van Persie to play all 90? Probably not. Oh yeah-the Swiss upset the Dutch 2-1 in Geneva. And you have to love that the report mentions that the Dutch "failed to get the better of a well-drilled Swiss defence." You have to hope the performance was that good, and that it did wonders for Senderos' confidence ahead of his coming run of games for Arsenal.
Bacary Sagna came on for what I do believe was his France debut, a 1-0 win over Slovakia. Some guy with an evil death stare scored for France.
I know Kolo Toure left to play for the Ivory Coast against Egypt, but there are no line-ups as yet for their scoreless draw in Paris.
No word on Belarus winning 2-1 over Israel and everyone's favourite, Alexander Hleb, either.
Back on Tuesday, Theo Walcott baffled everyone again, including the writer for the Guardian, by displaying some great skill for the U21s in their 1-1 draw with Romania. The kid needs to add some strength, and maybe a little muscle, and he could change his performances completely at the Premier League level.
So that's that. What else have we missed?
According to Mirren MAD, St. Mirren have dropped their interest in defender Joe O'Cearuill. Seems Joe is having a tough time catching on with another club. Again it makes me wonder why we signed him in the first place, no disrespect to him personally.
It appears we've also allowed striker Marc Elston to search for another club, and he's been on trial with Dundee up in Scotland. I don't think he even made a first team appearance for us, but with Jay Simpson, Rui Fonte, and a few others ahead of him, I doubt he'd have a chance with Arsenal.
The reserve match away to Fulham has been moved from Tuesday, August 28 to Thursday, August 30 due to Carling Cup commitments for Fulham. The match will still be at Motspur Park.
The draw was held for the Group Stages of the UEFA Women's Cup, and Arsenal have home advantage as the Cup holders. The Ladies will meet Bardolino Verona of Italy, Alma KTZH of Kazakhstan, and SV Neulengbach of Austria in Group B1. Arsenal have to finish in the top two of the Group to make the quarter finals. Which, given their record and experience, should be a probability.
The on-again, off-again transfer saga of former striker Sylvain Wiltord is on again, as he has signed a two year deal to return to former club Rennes. Best of luck to the man who won Arsenal the title at Old Trafford.
Finally, if you live in the London area, like 5-a-side, and want to challenge Nigel Winterburn to break your ankle with a tackle or your face with a thunderbolt strike as only a left-back can, why not check out The Football Academy, opening this Bank Holiday Monday. The grand opening celebrations include live music, skills training, exhibition matches, and a BBQ! Bring the entire family. Except cousin Louie. He's not welcome.
So what are the odds someone I've not seen since 1996 would sit beside me on the train yesterday?
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