Henry's departure isn't end of Arsenal

Since Barcelona officials announced the signing of Thierry Henry, fans in North London have been traveling around in a state of complete shock. This paired with rumors of Arsene Wenger and Cesc Fabregas bolting for Real Madrid, left Arsenal’s faithful in a state of general limbo. Even the direction of the club’s front office remains unclear at the moment. Those who sign the checks in Highbury forced David Dein out, foreshadowing Henry’s exit and signaling the end of the direction he steered the club since his arrival after one less than spectacular season with Juventus.

Typically, the departure of the man who captained a team for years like Henry did for the Gunners would set the side back for years. But the group who will man the frontline for Arsenal ranks among the best in Europe and should have little trouble filling the void left when Henry bolted to the Camp Nou.

Not only did Henry transform Arsenal into one of the most feared sides in England, he laid the groundwork for the club’s future. A future starring great young players like Fabregas, Robin Van Persie and Theo Walcott who would never have arrived at Arsenal had Henry and Wenger not achieved what they did.

Van Persie may very well be the most underrated player in all of England and Emmanuel Adebayor displayed a penchant for important goals in Arsenal’s 1-0 win at Old Trafford on Sept. 17. Not to mention, the development of prodigy Walcott should mean big things in the coming years.

Arsenal’s lineup in 2006 was as good as any in the Premiership, but its undoing was keeping that squad on the field. Injuries to Henry, Van Persie and others forced Wenger to tinker with his starting 11 on a day-to-day basis. In a sport where success is predicated on how fluently players perform as a unit, establishing a sense of rhythm and familiarity with each other is really the only way to ensure consistent success. Especially since Wenger already had to work newcomers Tomas Rosicky, William Gallas and Julio Baptista into a groove with their new side.

Van Persie suffered a broken foot after scoring one of the season’s most beautiful goals in a 2-1 win over Manchester United on Jan. 21 to complete the double. Even with the sweep of the eventual league champions, Arsenal still trailed United by 21 points at season’s end. Henry couldn’t stay on the field either, playing in a career-low 17 games and scoring 10 goals. Both totals his lowest since his lone season at Juventus in 1999 when he played in 16 games and scored three goals.Along with the injury problems, the Gunners lost and drew several games with inferior opponents.

In the season’s first match, the Gunners and Aston Villa battled to a 1-1 decision. A Gilberto Silva tally in the 84th minute saved Arsenal from an embarrassing defeat in its first game at Emirates Stadium even though the Gunners out shot Villa 11-3 and held an 18-1 advantage in corner kicks. They lost six other games to mid-level teams throughout the season; the most glaring being the 1-0 loss at Bramall Lane to Sheffield United who has since suffered relegation for finishing in at the bottom of the Premiership standings on Dec. 30.

While losing games you should win is a part of sports, losing six games that qualify as lay ups is just unacceptable. If you can sweep Manchester United, tie Chelsea twice and split with Liverpool, there is no way you can drop games to clubs like Bolton and Everton if winning the Premiership is your goal. Truly great teams consistently win games that they should win. Playing down to your competition is simply unacceptable for a team with the type of expectations Arsenal had entering 2006.Arsenal begins Premier League play with seven games against mediocre competition in 2007, including EPL newcomers Derby County (Sept. 22) and Sunderland (Oct. 7) before its first real test of the season against United on Nov. 3.

This could prove a double-edged sword for Arsenal. While the weak competition will allow the new-look Gunners to find their touch and still succeed, suddenly confronting United will require Arsenal to reach its peak come the first week of November. Along with the talented layovers from last year, new signing Eduardo Da Silva will only give the Highbury boys another offensive option. The defense of Arsenal will come under fire when confronted by the talented and proficient United offense led by Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. Arsenal returns all of its defensive starters from a year ago including Phillipe Senderos and Kolo Toure both of whom sit on the verge of stardom come 2007.

Even if Arsenal defeats United, poor play against weaker opponents will basically nullify any success against United and other EPL heavyweights – as was the case last season.

Arsenal possesses the talent to win the Premiership and other cup competitions, both international and domestic, now. Henry’s sudden farewell appeared as the end of Arsenal but is merely the end of an era. Henry recognized this in his initial introduction at Barca, proclaiming that Van Persie and Adebayor were both “world-class players.”

Henry made Arsenal the powerhouse it is, highlighted by the undefeated season of 2003-2004, but the players remaining must see it as an opportunity to usher in a new era and they’re more than capable of doing it.

U.S. Soccer must wake up

David Beckham’s impending arrival in the United States to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer appears as a positive step for soccer in this country. But honestly, since we’ve all seen this before, why do so many believe it’s going to do what so many identical situations could never accomplish?

Pele couldn’t do it.

Franz Beckenbauer tried and failed.

If those two individuals, who possessed the same charisma and even more talent than Beckham, weren’t up to the task, why is Beckham going to make the difference?

Despite the efforts of many, soccer has failed to find its niche in the United States. But that does not mean one doesn’t exist. Americans will never embrace soccer the way they embrace football or baseball.

They just won’t.

I don’t know why; and it doesn’t really matter. Soccer just can’t work in this country on a consistent basis. Americans already digest four major team sports, not to mention NASCAR, golf and tennis. That isn’t the case in Europe where soccer is No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 with rugby and some other fringe sports finishing miles – or kilometers – behind.

To make soccer relevant to self-absorbed generations of Americans who love their country above all else, soccer must represent something more. It must be about America.

The World Cup is the only soccer that really gets Americans hot and bothered, if for no reason other than the sport presents one of the few visible arenas not already dominated by the country.

Americans have demonstrated their unquenchable thirst for reasons to chant “U-S-A” and belt out “God Bless America” for years. And watching Landon Donovan lift that awkwardly shaped trophy surrounded by teammates cloaked in that Grand Ole Flag would provide Americans the perfect opportunity to do so.

To do this, Americans must matchup with and defeat some of the most gifted players and dominant teams in the world. So why are the best American players wasting their abilities in an inferior league when the chance to become a world-class player lies just a transfer fee away?

The goal of U.S. Soccer should not be to enroll as many youth players as possible to combat the arguments of the sport’s detractors. Watching a group of American men establish the U.S. as a legitimate contender – as opposed to the fraud the last group turned out to be – is the only way to silence opponents of “The Beautiful Game.”

It is time that the best players in that falsely named league make their way across the Atlantic. Some may point to Donovan’s two failed stints in Germany’s Bundesliga as an excuse not to try. But how can anyone expect him to dominate some of the world’s best players as he does the inferior defenders and sub-par goalkeepers who call the MLS home without proper seasoning?

At 24, Donovan is just now entering his prime. He outclasses fellow-American Bobby Convey who has called Reading of the English Premier League, arguably the best soccer league in the world, home since 2004. So many American players who don’t compare to Donovan have established themselves as serviceable players in leagues all around Europe. But still, a majority of players on the 2006 U.S. National Team that competed in the World Cup play in the MLS.

When Freddy Adu suddenly appeared in the public spotlight as the supposed “American Pele,” those at U.S. Soccer hailed him as the sport's pied piper. But Adu signed with the irrelevant D.C. United club of the irrelevant MLS, wasting his promising future. Adu has since moved on to Real Salt Lake. He will never leave the United States and his country will never escape global mediocrity on the pitch.

Adu is young and can still save himself. Plenty of teams in the EPL or Spain’s La Liga would take a talented young attacking midfielder. And while the Manchester Uniteds or Real Madrids of the world may no longer take a hammer to their piggy banks to sign the former phenom, playing for a mid-level club such as Fulham (EPL) or Atletico de Bilbao (La Liga) could certainly provide him the chance to prove himself to the European powerhouses he longs to play for. Teams maintained rightful skepticism toward Adu, but the skills he displayed at July’s FIFA Under-20 World Cup should be more than enough to warrant a shot.

You’re not getting any better in Salt Lake Freddy – or any younger.

Professional athletes refine their skills while practicing against teammates in daily workouts. That’s why you see the biggest leap for most young players in the second year after they’ve been there and after they’ve had that done to them.

Would Adu or any other great young American talent (see Jonathan Bornstein or Maurice Edu) benefit more from practicing against the chumps in the MLS or the Europeans who mastered the game by playing soccer everyday of their childhood, adolescence and now adult lives?

It’s no surprise that someone like Benny Feilhaber hasn’t struggled in his first eight appearances for the U.S. National Team, he plays in Germany. He’s played in the UEFA Champions League and the Bundesliga, competing against the skilled 11 that took the field for Mexico in the Gold Cup final is nothing new.

How arrogant can those who make the decisions at U.S. Soccer be? Enough with the MLS already, your league is a joke and it will never be better than any league in Europe, Asia, South America or Africa – no matter what Alexi Lalas says.

Get your best players out of here. They have the potential to do something great, making Americans love soccer won’t happen. But they’ll support it if it means supporting America at the same time. Do you honestly think all of the people watching the Miracle on Ice cared about hockey?

Sports are relevant because they have meaning beyond what happens on the field. They mean nothing in and of themselves, but could not mean more in the broader scope of things.

If U.S. Soccer advertised its goal of making its national team a world power, Americans would get behind it. They’d buy jerseys and some would certainly travel around the world to support the team.

But none of this will happen.

The United States National team will never become a world power, even though it’s painfully obvious that it could. Those in charge are simply too stubborn to admit defeat in the misguided and frankly ridiculous plan to make soccer America’s game.