International bits / Vermaelen confusion / Adebayor’s recovery
Add comment June 7th, 2009
After getting very excited about watching one of our players actually play football yesterday, I was understandably disappointed to see Theo Walcott withdrawn after just forty-five minutes of England’s clash with the Kazakhs. Walcott was poor, but no poorer than anyone else in an insipid first-half performance by England. Whether or not he’ll keep this place in the side that faces Andorra remains to be seen.
Aaron Ramsey fared much better, lasting the ninety minutes and impressing as a young Wales team triumphed over Azerbaijan.
Nicklas Bendtner’s Denmark and Robin van Persie’s Holland also picked up good wins in the battle for qualification, but there weren’t any particularly newsworthy contributions from either individual.
One man it was a surprise to see playing was Emmanuel Adebayor, who started Togo’s 3-0 defeat to Gabon. Considering that on the final day of the season Adebayor was limping around as if heavily injured, it’s quite the recovery and does bring into question once more just how ‘injured’ he ever was.
Reports in Belgium suggest Arsenal and Ajax have come to an £11.4m agreement over the transfer of Thomas Vermaelen. Whilst I’d be delighted to see us spending relatively big money on a centre-back, it’s fairly likely that these stories in Belgium have been sparked by the stories in the British press, which in turn were sparked by a questionable report on an internet site that as yet lacks credibility. It’s hard to know where the cycle of bollocks ends, frankly.
Have a good Sunday.
