Good morning.
There was a big chunk of Arsenal involvement last night as England beat Croatia 4-2. Declan Rice obviously started, but so too did Noni Madueke, playing off the right as Bukayo Saka’s minutes are managed because of his Achilles issue. He was typically lively at times without quite making the final decision, but did win a penalty when he nipped ahead of an unaware Luka Modric who booted him rather than the ball.
The initial take was saved by the keeper after Kane’s stutter run-up but, rather generously I thought, he was given a second chance because the keeper wasn’t on his line. Perhaps by the letter of the law it’s the right decision, but I really feel like if the taker engages in that kind of stuttering, some leeway should be given to the keeper. Basically they’re waiting for the keeper to move before striking the ball, so if the glove-butler (©ArsenalGentleman) guesses right they shouldn’t be penalised for a couple of inches.
Kane made no mistake second time around and it was 1-0, but Croatia hit back with a lovely equaliser. Unfortunately, they then decided not to bother marking one of Europe’s most prolific strikers when Declan Rice whipped in one of the many excellent corners he delivered, and it was 2-1. I’m going to guess that Rice to Kane from a set-piece is more agreeable to sections of the English support and press than Rice to another Arsenal player in one of our games. Funny that.
Once again though Croatia equalised, making it 2-2 on the cusp of half-time. By the way, shame on RTE who cut to an ad-break during the ‘hydration break’ in the first half. This garbage needs to be called out every time. The game doesn’t need a three minute break in average temperatures, and the broadcasters that facilitate FIFA damaging football in this way are complicit in Gianni Infantino’s grotty, money-grabbing ways. BOOOOOO, I say.
It didn’t take long for England to go ahead, Jude Bellingham finishing from a tight angle after one of the defenders made a bad decision to track Madueke’s run instead of closing down the man with the ball. Maybe Noni would have scored if Bellingham had chosen to pass, but I think I’d have taken my chances with that and tried to block his path to goal. The second half felt like England were very much on top, Croatia made changes which didn’t really change much, and their keeper was by far the busiest of the two.
Saka came on as Rice and Madueke went off, and he provided an assist for fellow sub Marcus Rashford who made it 4-2. There was also a run-out for potential summer signing Morgan Rogers. So, a solid start for Thomas Tuchel’s side, three Arsenal players were involved in goals, and only Eberechi Eze of our England contingent didn’t get on the pitch.
Earlier, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) held Portugal to a 1-1 draw. I didn’t watch this though. I need as little Cristiano Ronaldo and Bernardo Silva in my life as possible, but that’s a great result for the African nation. I read Nick Ames’ report in the Guardian, and he clearly thinks a 41 year old playing up front is a bit of an issue, which is objectively hard to argue with regardless of his career history. The only thing good men can hope for is that Ronaldo continues to have a miserable time, and ultimately we see a repeat of this at some point.
Overnight Ghana beat Panama 1-0 while Colombia beat Uzbekistan 3-1. Today, we have Czechia v South Africa to kick us off, followed by Switzerland against Bosnia and Herzegovina – that has some ex-Arsenal interest in the shape of Granit Xhaka and Sead Kolasinac. After that Canada take on Qatar and Mexico face South Korea in what, with all due respect to the others, looks like the tastiest fixture of the day (and not just because of the cuisine of both nations. Gimme some Korean/Mexican fusion 😋). Sadly, kick off in this part of the world is 2am, and as much as I’d like to watch it, I’m not staying up that late.
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So that’s just about that for this morning. We will have an Arsecast for you a bit later, so stand by for that. I’m also looking for your input a little. I promised to put together a post collating some of the best unofficial/independent merchandise made to celebrate Arsenal winning the title – we’re Champions, don’t ya know! Anyway, if you’ve made something and want to be included, or if you’ve found something, please let me know on the BlueSky thread below or just fire me an email to thearseblog at arseblog dot com. Cheers!
Howdy! I promised to make a post on @arseblog.com collating the best independent/unofficial ‘Arsenal win the title’ merchandise (t-shirts, badges, posters etc).If you’ve made something, or you want to recommend something, please reply in this thread with any links/discount codes etc.Thank you!
— arseblog (@arseblog.com) 2026-06-17T16:15:00.508Z
