After a manic couple of weeks full of surprise results and last-gasp drama, the group stages of the 2022 World Cup are done and dusted.
From an Arsenal perspective, only Thomas Partey has been eliminated while Ben White has returned to England for personal reasons. That means eight Gunners will be in the knockout rounds which start tomorrow. Here’s how the last few days played out…
🏴 Bukayo Saka
Benched for the game against Wales, he watched replacement Phil Foden grab a goal sandwiched between a brace by Marcus Rashford. The result sealed top spot for Gareth Southgate’s side who now face Senegal on Sunday.
Total minutes played: 149 (exc. stoppage time)
🏴 Aaron Ramsdale
Another game, another 90 minutes on the bench. Unless there’s an injury to Jordan Pickford it’s hard to see our man getting game time from here on out.
Total minutes played: 0
🏴 Ben White
Word coming out of the camp ahead of the Wales game was that White was struggling with illness. After the game, the FA said the defender was leaving Qatar and not expected to return. We don’t know the reason and we’re not going to speculate but we hope he’s ok.
Total minutes played: 0
🇺🇸 Matt Turner
The USA progressed to the knockout rounds with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Iran. Christian Pulisic scored the decisive goal seven minutes before the break and took a kick in the goolies for his troubles. Turner’s second clean sheet of the group stages sealed a last-16 tie with the Netherlands on Saturday afternoon.
Total minutes played: 270 (exc. stoppage time)
Multiple #USMNT clean sheets at a @FIFAWorldCup:
Jimmy Douglas @headdturnerr pic.twitter.com/CGu1eVGlvs
— U.S. Men's National Soccer Team (@USMNT) November 30, 2022
🇯🇵 Takehiro Tomiyasu
After missing Japan’s shock defeat to Costa Rica with a slight hamstring injury, Tomi started on the bench against Spain. He was sent on with 21 minutes remaining to see out a famous victory that sealed top spot in Group E. Alvaro Morata had put Spain ahead after 11 minutes but two goals in three minutes just after the break by Ritsu Doan and Ao Tanaka completed a remarkable turnaround. Japan will face Croatia on Monday afternoon.
Total minutes played: 66 (exc. stoppage time)
Wow, Japan! 🇯🇵👏
An amazing achievement as they win group E.
Congratulations to current PFA members Takehiro Tomiyasu & Kaoru Mitoma. pic.twitter.com/sXTCDNRGnH
— Professional Footballers' Association (@PFA) December 1, 2022
🇫🇷 William Saliba
The 21-year-old finally made his World Cup bow as a second half substitute as France went down 1-0 to Tunisia. Wahbi Khazri gave the unfancied Africans the lead five minutes before Wilo’s introduction and they just about held onto the advantage as VAR ruled out Antoine Griezmann’s stoppage time equaliser. Australia’s win over Denmark in the other game saw them progress behind France, who will play Poland on Sunday afternoon.
Total minutes played: 27 (exc. stoppage time)
🇬🇭 Thomas Partey
Ghana’s big grudge match with Luis Suarez’s Uruguay didn’t go to plan for either side. After Andre Ayew’s early penalty miss, the South Americans sealed a 2-0 win but still missed out on qualification as South Korea stunned Portugal in stoppage time to snatch second place. Frustrated at the referee’s decision not to award a late penalty, the Uruguayans completely lost it after the final whistle with Edison Cavani punching the VAR monitor. All very funny. Thomas will have a couple of weeks to get over his disappointment before reporting for Arsenal training in Dubai in a couple of weeks’ time.
Total minutes played: 270 (exc. stoppage time)
🇧🇷 Gabriel Martinelli
Brazil may have lost in stoppage time to Cameroon but Martinelli’s first start for his country was very promising. Playing on the left side of the attack, the 21-year-old was a willing runner with the ball and created several chances for himself to score. We might be biased but we thought he was the Seleçao’s best player on the night and hope he gets more opportunities in the knockout stages.
Total minutes played: 93 (exc. stoppage time)
Martinelli has been causing havoc down that left side 😨😰#CMR #BRA pic.twitter.com/y2IrMnaf9j
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) December 2, 2022
🇧🇷 Gabriel Jesus
Asked to lead the line in place of Richarlison, Gabi was full of energy but rarely offered a threat in the final third. He’s not scored a competitive goal for Brazil since the final of the 2019 Copa America and he’s not scored any goal for either club or country since the north London derby on 1 October. You sense it’s playing on his mind. Brazil play South Korea on Monday and we suspect he’ll be back on the bench.
Total minutes played: 92 (exc. stoppage time)
🇨🇭 Granit Xhaka
Needing a win to confirm a place in the knockout stages, Switzerland took the lead and then had to come from behind on their way to a 3-2 victory in a pulsating encounter with Serbia. As an ethnic Albanian with a history of winding up the Serbs, it was little surprise to see Xhaka, who was voted man of the match, leading the shithousery in the closing stages. While there was no double eagle celebration this time, he was no less fired up about things and even seemed to want to fight his own teammates after the final whistle. Hopefully, he calms down before Switzerland face Portugal on Tuesday.
Total minutes played: 270 (exc. stoppage time)
Ladies and Gentlemen… your Player of the Match ©️🔝#natimiteuch #lanatiavecvous #lanaticonvoi pic.twitter.com/zGE8Rh4hKc
— 🇨🇭 Nati (@nati_sfv_asf) December 2, 2022
Xhaka exudes self control in a ruckus these days. Amazing.
Glad that he mostly stayed neutral for Switzerland at the end there.
You have to say that, of the Brazil second string, only Martinelli really made a case for inclusion in their first eleven. On the opposite flank, Anthony/Raphinha seemed to want to allow the opposition defence to get back so they could show off the skills they don’t have.
Brazil have now heard of Martinelli.
Number of goals scored by former Arsenal strikers in this World Cup;
Olivier Giroud 2;
Takuma Asano 1;
Harry Kane 0.
Don’t forget Serge “London is still red” Gnabry with 1
Two of our former goalkeepers have not been bad either
I like to see that.
Szczęsny was 16 when he joined Arsenal, Martinez was 17.
There’s always a soft spot when a player joins so young.
Gerry Peyton will be proud of his boys in this tournament.
I would say three of our former goalkeepers have not been bad, either, with
two of them facing each other in the last 16 today.
And Joel Campbell, who got out when he could, looked like a first-rate football player.
He IS a first rate football player.
Seem to remember he also had a good World Cup in Brazil in 2014.
He never seemed to get his club career going though. Just constant one year loan after another.
He definitely had something about him though, pace, skill, quick close control. I always enjoyed watching him.
As I remember, a lot of the initial problem (right after he impressed at the 2014 Word Cup) involved getting him authorised to play in England.
Just cannot understand why Arsene Wenger never gave him a chance. Perhaps he was sacrificed due to Arsene fantasy of creating a British core.
He had plenty of chances in the 15/16 season.
He played 15 games in a row in the Premier League (starting 10 of them).
In addition to starting 2 Champions League, 4 FA Cup, and 2 League Cup games.
That being said, he was competing with Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain in the right-wing pecking order.
Nothing tastes sweeter than the tears of Suarez.
40,000,001 tears.
Look like there is a “Real Madrid” clique in the team. Rodrygo preferred to pass to the right even though Martinelli was available, probably not giving Martinelli a chance to shine in a position that literally belongs to Real Madrid Vinicius.
Glad to hear Partey’s body made it successfully through the tournament.
Antony reminds me of the old Denilson (the one before ours). Tricks and flicks and zero end product. No wonder Jesus was living off scraps the whole game.
@arseblog Blogs, the arses are banjanxed. You’re probably aware of it but if not, just giving you a heads-up