Arsenal America

Here in the States we generally don?t get much of a chance to see top quality football, but living in New York City I see my fair share. Back in July Glasgow Rangers played pre-season friendlies against River Plate of Argentina and Santos of Brazil ? Pel??s old club. I was a bit disappointed as I sat in the stadium with, charitably, 10,000 other fans for the Rangers-Santos match. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and only 10,000 people could be bothered to come out. And this was part of a double-header with our own New York/New Jersey MetroStars. Maybe football will never catch on here, I thought to myself.

Then two weeks later Real Madrid and AS Roma rolled into town. Figo, Batistuta, Zidane, Montella, Roberto Carlos. I was able to attend their practice session the day before the game and it was fantastic to see these players get put through their paces. Standing right behind the goal you really get a feeling for the power they generate as they slam the ball past the ?keeper. Then the next day more than 70,000 people turned out to watch the match, on a Thursday evening. Even though the scoreline read nil-nil, the turnout proved that people in this country will come to see the best in the world play.

Speaking of the best in the world (ok, I?m biased), I was very excited to see the Community Shield match. It was my first opportunity to see the squad turned out in their new kits, the first chance to see our new signings, and it was against Liverpoool, one of the teams everyone figures will be challenging us for the title this year.

I arrived at Nevada Smith?s in Manhattan around 8:30am, I had gotten up around 6am that morning to take the train into the city from my house. The place was fairly empty, but I spotted Grahame Curtis, one of the more prominent New York Gooners sitting at the bar. Pretty soon the place filled up; jerseys with JVC, Dreamcast, and even a replica shirt from the 70?s with no sponsor could be seen throughout the place. There were plenty of Liverpool fans too, but surely more Gooners. Had to love the Arsenal banners and pennants that hung from the walls as well. Nevada Smith?s is primarily a Man United pub, but the owners are good guys and everyone is welcome, I?ve never seen any trouble there. Well, needless to say I enjoyed the game immensely. We seemed to have picked up right where we left off last season. We had several good chances and really controlled the game. Then, to add a cherry on top, new man Gilberto Silva grabs the game winner!

A big topic of conversation between Arsenal America members has been the retirement of Tony Adams. In particular, the idea of retiring his number 6 has been argued back and forth. While I believe that if any player were going to have their number retired, Tony would certainly be deserving of that honor, I don?t believe it should be done. Part of the appeal of football is its heritage. I think it is far more interesting to see if the youngster coming up can fill the jersey left by the former legend. The jersey number forms a link not only from player to player, but also links one generation of fan to the next. But whatever your feelings on this one, there?s no denying Big Tone will be missed.

Rick Liebling is the president of Arsenal America (www.arsenalamerica.com). Send him your comments at rick@arsenalamerica.com