By Myles Palmer
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BRAZIL flew to Dublin, made many new friends, drew 0-0, collected their £400,000 fee, and got back on the plane.
Kaka showed his class, but Ronaldo made us wait 43 minutes for a flash of genius.
Gilberto Silva was carried off with an ankle injury after 17 minutes.
Cardiff’s Graham Kavanagh has apologised for his late tackle.
If GS has to miss the Chelsea game, Pires could switch to the right flank with Clichy coming in.
Portugal 1 England 1 was a late kick-off which kicked off late, after Figo was honoured for his 100th cap.
The match was a yawn, as expected.And a draw, as usual.
Ledley King scored with his knee just after half-time and Pauleta lifted a sweet free-kick over the shortest player in the wall, Rooney. The ball swerved away from David James’s clawing glove and went into the corner.
Basically, the match was a logistical rehearsal.
The Portuguese will sit down and look at their ticketing, their catering, their transport, their policing, their PR -and see what worked on the night, and what didn’t.
That was what this game was really all about.
Ashley Cole jarred his back and was taken off as a precaution on 11 minutes.
Wayne Bridge replaced him.
I’M ON RECORD as saying Arsenal will beat Chelsea twice.
Having predicted a 2-1 win,emails have asked whether I had money on that score.
I don’t bet on scores.
Only on home wins by serious clubs like Arsenal, Milan, Real Madrid, Valencia, Deportivo, Manchester United, Stuttgart, Werder Bremen, teams like that.
If I’m right about Crespo having a badly cut toe, he may not have recovered yet.
Jimmy might play again.
And Jimmy is dire these days. He has no pace. So he walks around and falls over and plays for free-kicks and argues.
With a fresh Thierry back, Arsenal will beat Chelsea by one goal.
19th February 2004.