“What is life? It is a flash of a firefly in the night; it is the breath of a buffalo in the Wintertime. It is as the little shadow that runs across the grass. and loses itself in the sunset.”- Native American Proverb
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It’s an Arsenal gameday! “The Champions” will be sung in dramatic fashion this afternoon as the Champions League epic intro song welcomes the players onto the field and draws the audience to a focused singularity. Midweek Champions League just matters a bit more.
For too many years, we as Arsenal fans missed these types of midweek night games against the best teams in Europe. Thankfully, those days are far behind us. This team is worlds better than those that missed qualifying for this prestigious tournament. In fact, I’ll go ahead and say that this is best team I’ve seen since I’ve been an Arsenal fan. (2010)
Sure, Fabregas, Song, Van Persie, Nasri, Sagna, Clichy, and the 5’4″ Andrei Arshavin were fun to watch and borderline great back in 2010, but that team would get beat at least 7/10 times to this current one. This a championship squad if I’ve ever seen one. “He’s five foot four. He’s five foot four. We’ve got Arshavin F*ck Adebayor.” This song would’ve been sung loudly vs the cross-town rivals, ‘Spuds.’ If you know you know.
Now, will the Gunners bring home a trophy? Well, that remains to be seen, but the squad is certainly built to weather the storms that the season will bring. There are 15 players that I think are worthy of starting in a Champions League Final match against Real Madrid were the opportunity in front of us and that is the type of depth that is needed to challenge in the both the Premier and Champions League. Today, Arsenal gets the chance to take that next step towards the May 30th final in Budapest.
Tonight, well, this afternoon if you are in the States, 5th in current CL standings Arsenal will host 10th Athletico Madrid in a group stage match. A win is not necessary to move on as this is still in the Group Stage, but a win would keep the Gunners in the driver’s seat to advance from the group stage to the tournament bracket.
This is a game that the Gunners will take ultra seriously against a team that is quite seasoned in Europe. Athletico have perennially been quite formidable in this tournament but usually it’s at home where they are most dangerous. It’s hard to win in Madrid. Thankfully, “North London Forever” will be belted out by the sold-out Emirates crowd and the lads will play on the comfortable North London “Carpet.”
I’m hoping for a win, period, but I think 3 to 4-1 is quite likely the way that this team has been playing. However, if we win 2-1 on a 93-minute winner, I’ll be equally overjoyed. Like always, win by at least one and move on.
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It’s quite early here in Utah. 34 degrees with stardust lighting up the frosty mountain tops on a moonless morning. Breath visible temporarily but fades like a “Buffalo’s breath in the Wintertime.” So will life one day. Don’t take things so seriously.
Find the Humor and Keep on Movin’
Whit W.