Banana Phone

So surfing the wonderful World Wide Web I happened upon a phone case that would change my life. If you've never hear the song Banana Phone click that link and it will most likely change your life. Well I saw a phone case that is a giant plastic banana. There are two major problems with it: It is bigger than a real banana so fitting in your pocket would be a problem, and the bigger problem is, you can only find it in knock off stores in China, so the case probably wont be in my hands, and definitely my pocket anytime soon. Gareth Bale might have a better chance of securing the case (implying that he doesn't already have a whole stash hidden in Ozil's old locker at the Bernabeu). Anyways while I'm typing this wonderful masterpiece USA is getting beat by Costa Rica and a few European World Cup Qualifiers were played earlier today.

England had looked shaky in their past friendlies against FA foes, so a good win against Moldova should put them right back on track. They got the win at Wembley, and from what I've heard it was pretty impressive. Don't get me wrong though, it is Moldova, but an England team that's had trouble with Scotland and Ireland definitely needs any good result they can get. England's skipper, Steven Gerrard got England on the board with a goal in the 12th minute. Talks about Gerrard and Lampard getting old are true, but their play still makes you think they are young and in their prime. My good friend Rickie Lambert got another goal for his home nation in the 26th minute. Lambert has been on excellent form lately and the world better watch out for him. That Southhampton relegation prediction I had might not happen...oops. Then the Man U man, Danny Welbeck added 2 goals later in the game. England pretty much dominated the game having 68% of the ball and 25 shots compared to Moldova's 5 shots. Seeing England in person this summer made me like them more, although they're not my favorite national team in Europe, I still hope they do good and qualify for the World Cup. A few of their players play for Arsenal, and of course I wish them well.

Ukraine won their game 9-0. No that was not a typo. Yes you read it right. Even though their match was against a nation whose footballers are just part timers and are firefighters and sandwich makers, they still beat San Marino 9-0!!! If I'm not mistaken, England only beat San Marino 6-1 last time the two teams met, which was not long ago. Ukraine happens to play England in their next WCQ and it should be an interesting game. England will be the favorites, but I don't think it will be anywhere near an easy win.

Right now as I type this blog there are a couple of North American WCQ's going on and they are pretty good matches. The biggest upset is probably the United States losing 2-1 at the moment. But if you smart people remember, I stated that it would be very hard playing Costa Rica in conditions other than a blizzard. Clearly the USMNT did not read my blog like they should have! The Honduras vs Mexico is kind of an upset at the moment, but after all, Mexico's been sucking lately, so the 2-1 score line is not super surprising.

P.S. in case you didn't notice, Arsenal actually signed a big name player!

Marco Reus: Player Special Edition 1

Yes this is the next new feature of Just Plain Football....our weekly player special! We've had occasional player special's through out my Just Plain Football career and usually they are pretty popular so why not bring them back? If you haven't, go check out Oh Arjen Robben. Probably my most famous player special ever composed and the fifth most popular post of all time.

Borussia Dortmund and the German National team is where Marco Reus shows off his amazing skill on the ball and his wonderful vision. Reus is one of my favorite non-arsenal players and one day I hope he plays for Arsenal, but with Arsenal's buying record we all know that wont happen.....even when he's 55. At the moment Reus is only 24 being born in Dortmund, Germany in 1989. So I guess he's Dortmund grown. That's pretty cool because not many players can say they play for their hometown team. I don't know if Carl Jenkinson was from North London, but he supported Arsenal all his life and ended up playing for them. Reus still has a big career infront of him and has already played in a Champions League Final. He did not join Borussia Dortmund till the 2012/13 season having played at Borussia Mochengladbach before then. Rues has many good qualities and plays kind of like Santi Cazorla for Arsenal. They both know how to pass, and pass very well, but if they have to they can take on members of the opposing team. He has the speed and quickness to play in the Premier League but he might get "Brek Shea-ed" a little. Not only are the guys in the Premier League quick, but they are very strong too. The Bundesliga is a good league and all, but at the moment nothing competes with the Premier League (in overall talent, not certain teams).

Between the start of the 2010/2011 season and the end of the 2012/13 season he has racked up 26 assists which is about 8-9 assists a season for 3 seasons. That's just in the Bundesliga games and not counting other competions. So you can see that he has the vision. In that same time period he has 42 goals which is not a bad tally for a player in his role. His best season was probably the 2011/2012 season when he scored 18 goals and had 9 assists at B. Mochengladbach. In that same time Santi Cazorla has only achieved 26 goals. But he has the same amount of assists as Rues at 26. You do have to remember though that Cazorla plays a true midfielder rule while Rues plays an attacking wing position, which could explain the bigger goal tally. How about we compare his stats to Arjen Robben (2010-2013). Robben has played at Bayern that whole time period and has not switched teams unlike Rues. Robben totaled 29 goals and ONLY 18 assists. A person would have to note that in the season that Robben got the best combination of goals/assists (12/8) when he only started 13 games and came off the bench once, so he did a lot for when he played.

Still the main focus of this post is Rues and he is truly exciting. Being one of the younger players that I will do a special on, he still has a lot to improve. I expect that if he keeps starting and has at least okay players around him, he will score even more goals and make more assists. A Bundesliga title may be hard for him to achieve, but a Champions League title will be even harder. He will probably have to move clubs, although Dortmund did travel to Wembley last season for the Finals of the Champions League!