Chelsea aims to cap great season
Conte’s Blues enjoyed tremendous turnaround while Wenger’s Gunners were disappointing
The FA Cup final is Saturday as rivals Chelsea and Arsenal clash at Wembley. The Blues are definite favourites, as Antonio Conte’s men have finished the Premier League season as clear and deserving champions.
Conte deserves most of the credit for the confidence at the club. He came into a very challenging job, and went about his business intelligently and methodically. He didn’t start with sweeping changes. He took time to get to know his players and earn their trust, before he started to reshape the team into his image.
He’s got the most out of Eden Hazard and Diego Costa, who both struggled last season. He found solid defending in David Luiz and the versatile Cesar Azpilicueta, while also managing to keep iconic veteran John Terry content, despite reduced playing time. It’s all been a tremendous turnaround for the Blues.
Arsenal, meanwhile, is looking to salvage something from a disappointing season. Manager Arsene Wenger has switched Arsenal to playing a back three, and has enjoyed good success with it, but he may have trouble finding even that many fit defenders. Gabriel Paulista is out injured, Shkodran Mustafi and Kieran Gibbs are doubtful, while Laurent Koscielny is suspended.
It’s possible that Per Mertesacker, who has played only 40 minutes this season, could get the start, lining up against Diego Costa. It should be an interesting contest.
Going up
The richest single game in sport is Monday at Wembley, as the Championship promotion playoff final has Reading take on Huddersfield Town.
Promotion to the Premier League is at stake, and that’s worth around $350 million.
Of course, I’ll be cheering for my old club Reading, which is playing well under manager Jaap Stam, and is favoured to go up.
Many neutrals though are pulling for Huddersfield, a team that finished fifth in the Championship with a negative-two goal difference. Huddersfield was one of the top teams in England in the 1920s, winning three successive league titles. Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United are the only other teams to do that. Huddersfield, though, hasn’t been in the top flight since 1972.
The team is backstopped by goalkeeper Danny Ward, who is on loan from Liverpool. Australian international Aaron Mooy, on loan from Manchester City, pulls the strings in midfield, while Bermuda international Nahki Wells is the team’s top scorer.
Young guns
The FIFA U-20 World Cup is underway in South Korea.
Canada, unfortunately, did not qualify for this tournament. Neither did Brazil, for that matter.
However, there’s still plenty of talent on display from the 24 teams that make up the field.
The final games of the group stage are this weekend, and because of the time difference, some will likely already be over by the time you read this. The host nation is doing very well, as South Korea tops a difficult group that also includes England and Argentina. The hosts face England to decide first place early today.
A lot of teams that you would expect to do well have struggled so far, including Germany, Argentina and Portugal.
Pleasant surprises meanwhile include Zambia, Uruguay, Venezuela, Iran and New Zealand.
The knockout stage begins on Tuesday.
One local connection at the tournament is new Whitecaps FC 2 signing Myer Bevan, who leads New Zealand with two goals. The young striker will join WFC2 after the tournament.
A Hulk smash
Some teams wear uniforms with the latest look, while others go for a more traditional style. However, third-tier Spanish club Atletico Astorga has gone a direction all their own, as they unveiled new uniforms styled after the Incredible Hulk!
The uniforms feature bright green tops with shading to look like the Hulk’s rippling muscles. The blue shorts are made to look like jeans, with fake stitching and pockets, and even fake rips that “expose” patches of green thigh. Along the bottom edge of the shirts there is a strip of blue, made to look like the tattered waistline of the Hulk’s pants.
The new kit promises to be a smash hit with fans, but whether it improves the team’s play remains to be seen. Regardless, this is one team that you wouldn’t want to get angry.
Bob Lenarduzzi is president of Vancouver Whitecaps FC. For tickets visit whitecapsfc.com/tickets.