Rewind back to February 2006 and Alan Pardew’s newly-promoted West Ham side have just beaten Arsenal, who would eventually reach the Champions League final that season, a team that contained messrs Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp, Robin Van Persie and Freddie Ljungberg, 3-2 at Highbury.
When the team news filtered through that Danny Welbeck would be partnering Wayne Rooney at the expense of Jermain Defoe against San Marino, the logic of the move was apparent. Against an outfit that would offer no space for England’s attackers, Roy Hodgson preferred the movement of Welbeck to in theory, stretch the opposition into places they would hitherto be unwilling to go to, rather than the more static Defoe.
Armenian football certainly has not had much the shout out since their independence from the Soviet Union in 1992. However, thanks to Herikh Mkhitaryan of Shakhtar Donetsk, hope abounds that though it may not be in this qualification campaign, that the minnows from Eastern Europe might just be about to cause a splash.
British audiences caught just a glimpse of Marco Reus’ talent at Euro 2012 at Euro 2012 when the then Borussia Monchengladbach attacker cracked in a volley to secure Germany’s victory over Greece in the Quarter Finals. However, before these last couple of weeks, you will have been hard pressed to find an English football watcher who had truly seen him play.
As England thrashed San Marino to get their World Cup qualification campaign back on track, it was refreshing to see so many notable Under-21 internationals take their place in the starting line-up.
There have been suggestions in the past that Gareth Bale perhaps lack a touch of commitment to the Welsh cause, particularly after pulling out of a number of friendlies with little niggles and injuries.
The news that Edgar Davids was signing on at Barnet to be joint Head Coach as well as a player was a shock to say the least on Friday morning. It has certainly been a long time since the Underhill club were making such headlines, if they ever have, and it undoubtedly will provide give the team a boost as they strive to move off the bottom of League Two.
As the summer went on and it became clear that Roberto Mancini was looking to add one if not two central-midfield players to his books, it was clear that someone already at the club was to be sold. Clearly, it was not going to be Yaya Toure, David Silva or Samir Nasri so that left the choice between Gareth Barry and Nigel De Jong.