A quick report on Arsenal’s international participants

I am leaving at 5am for a business trip. It is currently midnight. As such, I must be brief. You might suggest that there is no business more important than writing a blog about Arsenal Football Club. You would be correct, which is why I am eschewing sleep at the moment in favor of writing this blog entry. You might also wonder what manner of employment requires me to depart for business at 5am on a Sunday morning. For legal reasons, I am prohibited from disclosing that information. My regrets.

Here’s a quick round-up of the Arsenal players that competed in Saturday’s matches.

Emmanuel Adebayor
Togo 1-0 Cameroon
An impressive win for Togo over a very experienced and talented Cameroonian side featuring red-hot striker Samuel Eto’o. But the big news is that Adebayor started the match, scored the only goal, and played the entire 90 minutes. His goal wasn’t particularly awe-inspiring but the finish was precise. He received a cross from the right to the center of the penalty area after the Cameroonian defender failed to deal with it properly. Adebayor put the ball confidently into the lower left corner of the net with one touch. He didn’t have to do much to create the goal and the opportunity should never have been presented to him, but I couldn’t help thinking that Bendtner would have contrived to miss from the same position. Unfortunately for Adebayor it wasn’t all perfect on his return from injury. He missed a second half penalty that would have made for a less stressful conclusion to the match. Perhaps he wasn’t touched by the Arsenal penalty magic during his absence. Overall, a successful return to match fitness and no further injuries to report.

Robin Van Persie
Netherlands 3-0 Scotland
Van Persie scored the second goal for Holland with a back-post header from a corner kick. He was substituted for Wesley Sneijder on 65 minutes. No injury reported…yet.

Nicklas Bendtner
Malta 0 -3 Denmark
Bendtner’s day ended early as he left on 30 minutes with an apparent knee injury. No further information but it makes Adebayor’s return all the more important.

Samir Nasri
Lithuania 0-1 France
Nasri came on as a substitute for Gourcuff in the 78th minute. He was denied from close range by Lithuanian ‘keeper Karcemarskas. No injury reported.

William Gallas
Lithuania 0-1 France Gallas played 90 minutes for France without really being tested. He finished the game unscathed.

Barcary Sagna
Lithuania 0-1 France
Played the entire match. He’s really racking up the minutes this season and seems to be as solid as ever. Didn’t have much to do in this game.

Gael Clichy
Lithuania 0-1 France
Lost out to Patrice Evra for the starting left-back position today. Didn’t feature in the match. I think this battle will inspire him to better club performances. His match against Newcastle, just before the international break, was one of his best in a long time.

Andrei Arshavin
Russia 2-0 Azerbiajan
Arshavin played the entire 90 minutes for Russia and looked good, if not great. He had a few chances at goal, including one in the early stages that he blasted too close to the ‘keeper. Arshavin put in a couple decent crosses and had some nifty footwork against minnows Azerbiajan, but the match left little to be desired. Importantly, the mighty mite seemed to come through the game in one piece.

Aaron Ramsey
Wales 0-2 Finland
Aaron Ramsey played 34 minutes for Wales in defeat. It’s good to see him get playing time at the international level. His few recent club performances have been poor, but he has plenty of time to become a big impact player for the gunners.

Johan Djourou
Moldova 0-2 Switzerland
Djourou came on as a substitute in second-half injury time. Obviously there’s not much to report from him contribution to the match.

Finally, a few gunners that were called up for the international break did not make the team sheet. Carlos Vela, Abou Diaby, and Lukasz Fabianski were all left out today. Interestingly, Artur Boruc, Poland’s first choice keeper had a howler that cost Poland the match. But the most interesting omission is Carlos Vela. Leave it to Sven to keep one of his most exciting attacking players off the roster for Mexico. They did, however, manage to win their match 2-0.

That’s it for today. Other than Bendtner, no injury news to report yet. We’ll see if there’s more news about his injury tomorrow.

By the way, I suppose I should congratulate England on an impressive win in their friendly today. Congrats.

Til tomorrow…