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Today, there's a vast desert where Premier League soccer should be, thanks to the final international break before the World Cup draw. Since there's no soccer today, we're forced to look back on Friday's action -- particularly the game involving the most Arsenal players, for better or worse.
France featured Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny in Friday's 2-0 loss to Ukraine -- a match that put France's World Cup 2014 hopes in jeopardy, and prompted French newspapers to ask the perfectly rational question, "Is this team the worst French team in history?" Giroud played the first 70 minutes and obviously, given the scoreline, wasn't much of a factor in the match.
Koscielny, on the other hand, made his presence felt in the match, and not in the good way. He was part of the truly awful defensive play (cue "Yakety Sax") that led to Roman Zozulya's first goal, and then took down Zozulya in the box, allowing him the PK chance to make it 2-0 in the 81st minute. Then, in injury time, he took down Oleksander Kucher (no relation to Ashton) with a slap-push in the middle of the pitch, prompting a straight red card and a very pained expression from French coach Didier Deschamps.
The French national team will attempt to make amends on Tuesday. The French fans are, shall we say, not optimistic about their chances.