Good Monday morning, TSFers! It’s so nice to wake up after a weekend of Arsenal success. The headline is, of course, the Arsenal Women winning the first ever FIFA Women’s Champions Cup! It took the women extra time because Owen Goal turned on us and Katie McCabe conceded a somewhat controversial penalty, but Caitlin Foord was the extra time hero, scoring the winner just before the ET midway break.
Things turned out quite nicely for the men in the Premier League. It’s so nice to win in the first window
on Saturday morning and then sit back, points in the bank, to root for things to break your way. On Sunday, Aston Villa started things off by losing 1-0 to Brentford despite going a man to the good in the 42nd minute. Brentford’s goal came after going a man down, too. Delicious.
But the Manchester City result was the real meat of the fantastic football day. I actually turned the match off after Rayan Cherki gave City the lead 11 minutes into the match. Spurs couldn’t make a progressive pass to save their lives, and it looked like it would be a waste of my time. Sometimes it’s nice to be wrong! Tottenham stormed back from 2-0 down at half to draw 2-2 and take two points from Manchester City. If you haven’t seen it, look up Dominic Solanke’s goal — it evokes Olivier Giroud’s scorpion kick.
The result saves Thomas Frank’s job (good). He yanked Cuti Romero at halftime (funny and good). City drop points from a winning position (fantastic). A Michelin Star outcome. Too bad Spurs couldn’t find a winner.
February is Black History Month in the U.S. I’d highly recommend you take a bit of time over the month to read some of the excellent BHM content out there. Donald Wine’s work at Stars and Stripes FC (the SBN USMNT site) is a great starting point.
Arsenal have a rich history intertwined with Black culture (Athletic article and Sky Sports article), and the club have created plenty of content around U.K. BHM (which occurs in October). Here is the hub for the stuff the club have put together. This month, I’m going to read Black Arsenal, a book that explores the unique connection between our club and the Black community.
Be on the lookout for today’s Cannon and Keyboard later!
