Arsenal players at Olympic games 2012

Walcott & Chamberlain again start on the bench for England.

Koscielny on the bench for France (as is Giroud, whilst M'Vila starts)

England beat Ukraine 1-0 to win the group. They'll play Italy in the quarter-finals.

Walcott came on for the last twenty minutes or so and hardly touched the ball, since England were defending a lot. His runs were often ignored, too.

Chamberlain got some minutes towards the end and should have played in Walcott, but didn't and was tackled. Had he done so, Walcott would have been 1-on-1 with Pyatov. He's yet to make much of an impact on the tournament so far.

Koscielny was an unused sub for France, who lost to Sweden 2-0.

As it stands, then:

Czech Republic vs Portugal (Rosicky)
Greece vs Germany (Mertesacker, Podolski)
France vs Spain (Koscielny)
England vs Italy (Walcott, Chamberlain)

England 1-0 Ukraine

Walcott & Chamberlain both appeared from the bench late in the second half for England, who beat Ukraine 1-0, to book a quarter-final against Italy.

France 0-2 Sweden

Koscielny was again unused by France, but is almost certain to start against Spain in the quarter-final as Mexes is suspended.

Thursday: Czech Rep v Portugal
Friday: Greece v Germany
Saturday: Spain v France
Sunday: Italy v England

Rosicky ruled out of Czech? Why haven't you put Czech also in red??

Rooney had one clear chance to pass to an unmarked Walcott on the wing at one point, but instead, tried a fancy backheel to Welbeck..........which flopped

Koscielny to replace Mexes permanently.

srigooner wrote:Rosicky ruled out of Czech? Why haven't you put Czech also in red??

You're right. Long days at work Sina...

Blanc : "Koscielny will start against Spain. He can play in any position at the back"

Personally, I'm a very big fan of Laurent Koscielny. At Arsenal, I have seen him develop and grow into a top-class player. His most redeeming quality is that he is fearless. Whether it is Spain or not Spain, Torres or not Torres, he will address this match as if it were a 7-a-side between friends during the holidays.

Playing a Spanish team proved to be one of the most beautiful memories of his career. The 2-1 win over Barcelona in last 16 of the Champions League last year is, to date, his greatest performance. He will match up against Cesc Fabregas, Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets again, but he is impervious to pressure.

Taken from a goal.com article surprisingly appreciating an Arsenal player.

In fond remembrance:



Also:



Credits to MJ for this video.

The Czech Republic have received a huge boost after captain Tomas Rosicky resumed training a day before the European Championship quarter-final match.

Rosicky picked up an achilles tendon injury during the 2-1 win over Greece on June 12 and hasn't trained since.
The injury forced him to miss his team's 1-0 victory over Poland on Saturday and was replaced in midfield by Daniel Kolar.

It was initially feared he would be out for the remainder of the tournament but he has returned from Prague after receiving treatment and rejoined the team Tuesday.

The last training session before Thursday's match will identify whether the Gunners midfielder is fit enough to start the last-eight clash.

The Czechs stayed at their base in Wroclaw on Wednesday because poor conditions on the field at the National Stadium in Warsaw prevented them for using it.

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Theo Walcott: "I don’t want to be known as a super sub..."

Czech Republic 0 - 1 Portugal. Rosicky played no part in the game thanks to injury.

Germany vs Greece tomorrow. Another chance to see Podolski.

Kos deserves minutes.. mexes has been raped time and time again at this euro and was at fault for both of the sweeden goals in some way..

Czech Rep 0-1 Portugal

Rosicky did not play due to injury. He is now considering retirement.

"Mexes is an important loss, but they've got that Arsenal boy, he's very good." - Vicente Del Bosque

SPORT BILD ‏@SPORTBILD

Löw baut Mannschaft um! Klose, Reus, Schürrle für Gomez, Müller und Podolski #dfb *falk

really doubt it that Godolski Muller and Gomez going to get benched
dont underestimate Greece

Sina wrote:"Mexes is an important loss, but they've got that Arsenal boy, he's very good." - Vicente Del Bosque

What happened to Mexes? Injured, suspended?


And 'that Arsenal boy' could easily outperform Mexes, should have been started earlier.

Germany 4-1 Greece.

Mertesacker and Podolski played no part.

Samuelj29060 wrote:Germany 4-1 Greece.

Mertesacker and Podolski played no part.

Sam really needs his sleep, it was 4-2 .

No NA$RI AND Kos starts

Spain 2 - 0 France.

France were really poor, and Koscielny was the only defender to have a good game. He didn't put a foot wrong all game.

Giroud played the last 13 minutes but France looked liked they had given up at that point so he really didn't effect the game.

That result means that Mertesacker, Podolski, Walcott and Chamberlain are the only Arsenal representatives at the tournament.

Koscielny vs Spain
5 Interceptions,3 Tackles,5 Clearances,3 Blocks
46 Passes,91% Accuracy
Distance covered: 9585 Metres

Boss

Koscielny was great vs Spain, was probably their best player.

I was also watching M'Vila and I thought he was pretty good too, more so in the second half. He didn't win as many tackles as I thought but for the most part his positioning was solid, and his passing especially seemed better than what I had heard. He had a few key passes to Ribery(great throughball) and Clichy in the 2nd half which set up chances for France.

Spain 2-0 France

Koscielny started in central defence, filling in for suspended Mexes, and he was solid. Can't remember him making an error the whole game. Made some great covering tackles to bail out a woeful Clichy.

(Giroud came on for the final 13 minutes).

Update:

(Still in competition)
Podolski: 3 app, 1 goal, 0 assists
Walcott: 2 apps, 1 goal, 1 assist
Oxlade-Chamberlain: 2 apps, 0 goals, 0 assists
Mertesacker: 0 apps

(Out of competition)
Arshavin: 3apps, 0 goals, 3 assists
Bendtner: 3 app, 2 goals, 1 assist
Van Persie: 3 app, 1 goal, 0 assists
Rosicky: 2 apps, 0 goals, 0 assists
Szczesny: 1 app, 1 conceded, 1 red card
Koscielny: 1 apps, 0 goals, 0 assists

So its safe to say Szczesny had the worst tournament out of all the players

Laurent Koscielny has been voted best player of the game by the audience of a French TV channel