Henry: Arsenal --> Barcelona, Premiership --> La Liga.

Okay, just some more thoughts on the transfer of Theirry Henry from Arsenal to Barcelona.

If the Premiership was the best league in 06-07, it most certainly isn't anymore. With the loss of Henry to the Spanish League, the Premiership loses another top-quality player. Arsenal is now a little-above-average English squad. The only thing that was making them a real quality club was Henry, and without him they aren't any better than Tottenham or anything. Now, the Premiership only really has 3 'top clubs' that are able to truly compete in Europe... and if Liverpool lost Steven Gerrard, they really would not be a top club either, so really it is just Chelsea and Man Utd. If you think about La Liga, they have Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Sevilla, teams which could all compete well in Europe. AC Milan and Internazionale are the main representatives of Serie A, although Juventus should return quite strongly this upcoming season. It has already been shown that AC Milan can edge out two top Premiership teams Man Utd and Liverpool, and so it could even be said that Serie A is better than the Premiership. The entire Premiership, not just Arsenal, loses quality with the transfer of Henry.

I totally support Henry's move, because he wasn't going to get anything from Arsenal. He's going to retire in about 4-6 years, and Fabregas, Walcott, etc. won't become great players, if they ever become great players, until past his time. All of Henry's old teammates from their Premiership-winning-years have moved on (retired, in the case of Denis Bergkamp; a transfer to Juventus and now Inter Milan in the case of Patrick Vieira), or were forced to move on by Wenger (in the case of Robert Pires, a transfer to Villareal), and he has every right to feel he should move on as well. I'm sure he knows he is leaving his young Arsenal team to possibly fall out of even 4th place in the Premiership, perhaps not qualify for Champions League, but at the same time, he shouldn't be forced to have that burden on his shoulders. Henry probably still feels young, and staying at Arsenal as a great player when the rest of the squad will only be competitive in another 5 years is not enough for a player who wants to win things at the moment because he is short on time left as a top player. Only for probably the next two years can Henry be considered a truly threatening player, and he does not feel he can achieve anything he deserves to with Arsenal in that time period. I can see nothing wrong with this. He has given up the chance to retire with Arsenal and the love of their fans, and he knows this, but there is nothing wrong with wanting to further your career. It was not really selfishness that was the cause of Henry's transfer; he knows he has lost perhaps the respect of some people in the football community. But for all he gave to Arsenal, he's not getting anything in return. Maybe it would have been nice to see him retire with the club that made him famous, but it is also sad to see such talent wasted on a squad that is otherwise mediocre. In the case of one-club men like Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Steven Gerrard, and John Terry, they stay at their clubs because they are winning. In reality, the majority of those players would have left as well if put in Henry's position.

Not everything about Barcelona is garantueed to be brilliant for Henry. Changing clubs and especially leagues always changes things about players. Henry has seen players like Shevchenko and Ballack change clubs and leagues and become ineffective benchwarmers. Henry is not garantueed a starting position with Barcelona; he is also taking on a challenge by joining a squad with so many other quality forward players. With Arsenal he was the star, but with Barca he will have to really compete for a top spot. By joining Barcelona Henry is perhaps garantueed more success than if he stayed at Arsenal, but he is also giving up his role as a leader and star. Unlike at Arsenal or in the Premiership, he won't recieve as many personal awards. He might not be the top goalscorer of the Spanish League, let alone in his own team. If Barcelona wins Copa del Rey, or La Liga, or the Champions League, it may not be just because of Henry. He is not only challenging himself to become a leading part of the Barcelona squad, but also giving up his role as a star and realizing that he cannot lead a team on his own.

Basically, Henry was the only really good player on a crap team that was not going to do well until after he retired. Nobody can say they would CHOOSE to stay in a situation like that. And loyalty? Henry has shown Arsenal enough loyalty for staying this long, and for all the records and titles he has brought them. 8 years, 197 goals, 374 appearances; the numbers speak for themselves if you're asking about loyalty.

Euro 2008 Qualifiers

scores:

Kazakhstan 1-2 Armenia
Wales 0-0 Czech Republic
Russia 4-0 Andorra
Azerbaijan 1-3 Poland
Finland 0-2 Serbia
Belgium 1-2 Portugal
Lithuania 1-0 Georgia
Faeroe Islands 1-2 Italy
France 2-0 Ukraine
Bosnia Herzegovina 3-2 Turkey
Norway 4-0 Malta
Greece 2-0 Hungary
Germany 6-0 San Marino
Macedonia 1-2 Israel
Estonia 0-1 Croatia
Iceland 1-1 Lichtenstein
Latvia 0-2 Spain
Denmark 3-3 Sweden
Belarus 0-2 Bulgaria
Albania 2-0 Luxembourg
Slovenia 1-2 Romania

I watched the Czech Republic/Wales game and the Portugal/Belgium game.

I hadn't ever seen Belgium play before, but they were very, very good. Portugal managed to get through, however, with two brilliant goals, the first from a difficult angle and off the post by Nani in the 1st half, showing he deserves his Man United contract. The second was a beautiful goal by Helder Postiga, after the Belgian equaliser.

Portugal is one of my favorite national teams; their style of play really caught my eye during the last World Cup. Helder Postiga is a brilliant player, and with Pauleta retired, is vital to the squad. Today, Portugal played without big names such as Ricardo Carvalho (injury), Cristiano Ronaldo (suspension for accumulated yellows), Simao, and Nuno Gomes, but still pulled off a convincing win. Younger players like Quaresma and Nani showed their amazing quality, and Deco, Petit, and Tiago kept things neat in the middle. I'm really looking forward to seeing what this younger Portugal can do.

Wales played a very good game against the Czechs, and bid farewell to their skipper Ryan Giggs. Giggs made some amazing runs, as well as a nice chip shot, but was unable to score or give Wales the win. Giggs was substituted off in his hometown, Cardiff, to a great standing ovation. He put his captain's armband onto a heavily tattooed arm of Craig Bellamy and they hugged; it was possibly the cutest thing Bellamy has done in his life. After the game, Giggs gave an interview.