Cesc Fever – Come on gunners you are going all the way this time.

Go arsenal! go arsenal! go arsenal! For what had been one of the most boring games I’ve ever seen Arsenal FC play in their entire life time, it took one blazing shot from Fabregas to change that all. The thunderous strike in the 84th minute from the young midfielder had me jumping out of my couch. I was sure this was going into over time and into the penalties eventually. Most part of the game had me yawning; I honestly didn’t think there was anything special about the entire game.
But Cesc brought about a great inspiration for every arsenal fc fan out there. It was one of those feelings that game you new hope. I’ve always seen arsenal as the underdogs in the European competitions and playing against AC Milan away at San Siro was big challenge. To be honest with you I was hoping they would do well in the in the penalties and this would be the end it. So you can image how happy I was when Fabregas hit that in, twenty five yards out, who would have though of about that.
And to finish things off I think it was a brilliant play by Theo Wallcott to cross the ball for Adebayor to tap it in gently. What started out as a below average performance from the gunners ended in one of my favorite games of all times, closing the door on the last year’s Champion’s League Winners.
I would also like to add that I think Manuel Almunia held his nerves through out with Kaka and Pato going at the goal at him. He had a lot to do with to keep arsenal in the game till that late.

Robin Van Persie Arsenals Rising Star

Arsenal’s Number 11, the 24 year old Robin Van Persie is a rising star these days. He has made an impact on the game like many other youngsters. He is easily in the same category as Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Robinho.

On August 6, 1983 he was born to Bob and Jose Ras, sculptor and a painter, in the neighborhood of Kralingen in Rotterdam, Netherlands. In his early life he wasn’t too much focused on his studies. He was known for misbehaving in class and being punished for it. He was more into going to night clubs and having a good time, though one of his good friends at age of fourteen, Sietje Moush a forty year old, told him otherwise. His advice certainly made an impact on van persie. This is what led him to changing his life style and adopting football as a career. Robin Van Persie had always enjoyed playing soccer, even as a youngster Van persie was fond of soccer as he played on the streets.

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On a separate note, you can buy arsenal shirts.

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Robin Van Persie started his career at the dutch side Excelsior. Here he was signed up as a youth player. Though his career at the club was short lived due to his old habits of getting into trouble. Arguments with the coaches saw Van Persie off to Feyenoord in 2001. Here too he signed up as a youth player. It did not take him too long to get selected for first team. The side had a lot of injured players which opened up the opportunity for Robin Van Persie. That season he made fifteen first team appearances, and making his debut at the age of seventeen. He went on to make a name for him self by getting the Best Young Talent award due to his performance in the UEFA CUP final where Feyenoord beat Borussia Dortmund 3-2.

The next season 2001-2002 was a difficult season for van persie. It consisted of many unfortunate events. For instance the season started out with an injury. Robin Van Persie worked hard to come back from it only to get into yet another dispute with the manager which saw him off to the reserve side. Then at another event at a game between Ajax Reserves and Feyenoord Reserves, a bunch of people from the crowd invaded the pitch and beat up a bunch of players. Van Persie was delivered several kicks and punches, though fortunately he received no serious injury. The horrible season finished off with yet another serious blow when robin van persie was sent home the night of the big UEFA Super Cup match against Real Madrid due to misbehavior. Despite the miserable season he still managed to get a few good things out of it, such as playing some key games for the reserve side, playing 28 games with the senior squad in the league, and making numerous caps for his under-19 and under-21 national team.

It wasn’t till 2003 when Feyenoord made attempts to renew his contract. But due to the issues with the manager, robin van persie turned them down. In 2004 Feyenoord had no option but to open up to options from other clubs. The sad part was that such a talented youngster had very few interested in him and he was only valued at three million pounds. Arsenal scout Steve Rowley was one of the few who thought that he was a good buy and looked at his misbehaving habits as simply being misunderstood.

In May 17, 2004 Arsenal secured themselves one of the hottest player at that time for a fee around three million pounds. He was believed to be a great left wing or an efficient target man. Many thought of him as Dennis Bergkamp’s replacement. Robin had to make his way into the squad. In his first season at the club he spent most of the time on the bench playing the odd games. He made his debut for Arsenal on August 8^th, 2004 as a sub in a game against Manchester United for the community shield, which Arsenal managed to secure.

In the summer of 2005 van persie made his first international cap for Netherlands playing games against Romania and Finland. This was the year he also earned his first Player of the Month award. Also this year his row with injuries continued. They were brief but always around the corner.

In 2006, robin van persie secured his place at Highbury by signing a five year contract with the club that was to last till 2011. He played 38 games in the season, even though he was still mostly used as a sub, he still managed 11 van persie goals. This was the year when he earned the reputation as a player who can create a goal out of dust or nothing at all. In the summer of 2006 he made appearances for Holland in the world cup scoring a goal against Côte d’Ivoire from a free kick.

The following year, 2007, Van Persie picked up where he left off from and built on it, by far the best year for him so far. He scored a number of memorable goals such as the amazing vna persie goal on the volley against Charlton and another one from 30 yards out against Fulham. He did equally well for the international side. He won a number of awards during this year such as the BBC’s goal of Month award and Rotterdam Sportsman of the year. He form again was short lived. This time due to another injury this left him out of game for the rest of the season. In first half of the season which he played, he contributed thirteen goals in thirty games.

In 2008, Robin Van Persie took on a bigger role. With the departure of Thierry Henry, he had to step up. He started out the season well scoring seven goals from ten games before he had another injury. Since then he has made two come backs but have been declared unfit in both. To date he is still injured and I am sure all his fans can’t wait for him to make his return.

Life outside football for Robin Van Persie is with his wife and his son. Other than that many rumors surround his life. One incident consists of him being arrested for rape charges. Former Miss Nigeria claimed that van persie attacked her. Robin was arrested and kept in jail for fourteen days, where as he describes it, he was treated as a criminal. He claims that the conditions were so hot that he passed out a few times. He also stated that many cops who were not authorized to view his file tried to get their hands on it. After fourteen days he was cleared of all charges and walked as an innocent man.

Robin Van Persie muslim rumor is also in the air. I tried looking for some official news on this but haven’t found any yet. So I can’t really state this as a definite thing. On the other hand there are many other unofficial sources which claim that he is a muslim. The news has it that he is convert and he did that for this muslim wife from morocco.

Lately robin van persie inter move is also talked about a lot. Rumor has it that he will be leaving arsenal and moving there. Even though Eduardo can replace him once he comes back from his injury but still I am sure I speak for all arsenal die hard fans when I say this, that we hope the transfer does not happen and it stays a rumor.

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Eduardo trying to look past the incident

The arsenals latest news is that the forward Eduardo, who struck a really unfortunate inquiry with the team’s game against Birmingham, wants to look past the incident. He says that he doesn’t remember much about the inquiry and nor does he want to be reminded. It was dreadful enough to see his foot twisted and does not want to focus on what else happened.

The Croatian International is still trying to keep his chin up. The team’ s official site reported him as saying, “I am unsure at the moment of the extent of the injury and how long I will be out of action for but I know that I won’t be able to play for Arsenal for the rest of the season or be ready in time for the Euros this summer. But I’m not worried about that. My concentration and determination is on making as quick a recovery as possible. I am determined to overcome this injury.”

The word also has it that the arsenal management is trying to get the videos removed from the internet. Eduardo had his bones broken from nine places, and I don’t doubt it looking at the pictures and the expressions of the players at the game.

He is not expected to back for another nine months, he will miss the rest of the season, euro cup and maybe even the Croatia’s qualification games for the World Cup. I wish Eduardo all the best and I for one cannot wait for him to get back in action. Stay posted for latest news on Eduardo.