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Granit Xhaka has been offered counselling by the club to help him cope with the criticism after he clashed with Arsenal’s fans on Sunday.
Subbed off in the second half of their 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace (Arsenal had led 2-0 early on), Xhaka was booed and jeered by Arsenal’s fans. The club captain then threw his armband to the ground, put his hands to his ears, told the supporter to “f*** off” and took off his shirt before storming straight down the tunnel.
Xhaka, 27, has been left devastated by the incident as Arsenal’s players have been rallying around him and spending time with him at his home.
“He is upset, devastated and very sad,” Arsenal’s manager Unai Emery said. “It is not only yesterday and today. He is feeling the supporters don’t like him.”
Xhaka has yet to publicly apologize for his actions and has since removed ‘Arsenal captain’ from his Instagram profile, instead just keeping that he is captain of Switzerland.
No decision has been made on whether or not he will be stripped of the captaincy, while Emery acknowledge that Xhaka was wrong to react in the way that he did and he will be fined in due course.
Arsenal’s fanbase have been a frustrated bunch for quite some time and last season it was Shkodran Mustafi who became the scapegoat. Now it’s Xhaka’s turn and although his actions were incorrect, you can understand his frustration at being singled out.
Look, Xhaka hasn’t been great since joining from Borussia Monchengladbach for $45 million in the summer of 2017. He’s made huge errors, picked up silly red cards and after being touted as the holding midfielder Arsenal have been missing for a generation, he hasn’t delivered.
But he shouldn’t be made the scapegoat here. You can go through this entire Arsenal side and picked out individuals, especially in midfield and defense, who aren’t playing well enough.
Xhaka was voted as Arsenal’s captain by the players this summer and he is their representative in the public eye. When things are going badly for the team he will have to take a larger share of the blame and he didn’t handle that well on Sunday.
Was it fair? No. Is the abuse part of the society we live in? Unfortunately, yes.
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BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) Midfielder James Rodriguez will return to Colombia’s national team after a four-match absence for two friendlies in the United States against Peru and Ecuador.
However, striker Radamel Falcao remains out with an Achilles injury.
Colombia coach Carlos Queiroz announced his squad of 34 players on Tuesday for matches on Nov. 15 against Peru in Miami and four days later against Ecuador in Harrison, New Jersey.
Rodriguez has not played for Colombia since this summer’s Copa America. He returned to Real Madrid this season after a year on loan at Bayern Munich.
Queiroz also called up strikers Juan Fernando Quintero and Rafael Santos Borre, who will play in the Copa Libertadores final for River Plate against Flamengo on Nov. 23.
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Squad:
Goalkeepers: David Ospina (Napoli), Camilo Vargas (Atlas), Aldair Quintana (Atletico Nacional), Eder Chaux (Patriotas).
Defenders: Luis Orejuela (Cruzeiro), Stefan Medina (Monterrey), Santiago Arias (Atletico Madrid), Davinson Sanchez (Tottenham), Oscar Murillo (Pachuca), Yerry Mina (Everton), Jhon Lucumi (Genk), Jeison Murillo (Sampdoria), Cristian Borja (Sporting Lisbon), William Tesillo (Leon), Johan Mojica (Girona), Frank Fabra (Boca Juniors).
Midfielders: Wilmar Barrios (Zenit), Gustavo Cuellar (Al Hilal), Jorman Campuzano (Boca Juniors), Juan Cuadrado (Juventus), Jefferson Lerma (Bournemouth), Steven Alzate (Brighton), James Rodriguez (Real Madrid), Mateus Uribe (Porto), Yairo Moreno (Leon).
Strikers: Luis Muriel (Atalanta), Luis Sinisterra (Feyenoord), Steven Mendoza (Amiens), Roger Martinez (America de Mexico), Luis Diaz (Porto), Sebastian Villa (Boca Juniors), Alfredo Morelos (Rangers), Rafael Borre and Juan Quintero (River Plate).
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More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports
The game in 200 words (or less): The Seattle Sounders are headed back to MLS Cup for the third time in four years after knocking off the best regular-season team in MLS history, Los Angeles FC, Tuesday night in the Western Conference final. The Sounders went into Banc of California Stadium and shocked the world with a stellar team performance, most notably from their backline and center forward Raul Ruidiaz, who scored twice on the night. Midfield maestro Nicolas Lodeiro bagged Seattle’s other goal as the Sounders scored three unanswered after Eduard Atuesta opened the scoring in the 17th minute. Should Atlanta United advance past Toronto FC in Wednesday’s Eastern Conference final, Seattle will play for MLS Cup away from home for the third time during their stellar run.
[ VIDEO: Every touch from Christian Pulisic v. Burnley ]
Three things we learned
1. Time to recognize Ruidiaz among elites: Josef Martinez and Zlatan Ibrahimovic (rightly) have each received plenty of plaudits for their prolific goal-scoring records as center forwards, but Ruidiaz should be mentioned in the same breath as some of the best to ever do it in MLS. He’s not even two seasons into his time in Seattle, but the Peruvian international has displayed a ruthless nose for goal while also contributing to the Sounders’ attack in ways the aforementioned no. 9s rarely do.
If you watch the below clip, you’ll see Joevin Jones picking up the assist and Lodeiro finishing with pinpoint precision, but what you won’t see is Ruidiaz’s turn out of trouble on the other side of midfield and his subsequent dribbling into the final third before laying the ball off to Jones. The Sounders defense was set up to absorb lots of pressure, but providing them these moments of respite, let alone getting the goal, were so important to Brian Schmetzer’s gameplan.
Read more at this link (News Source).
