A Timely lesson in class for Adebayor!

As Sunday bears down on the impending clash between Man City and Arsenal at Eastlands, we were gifted with the perfect scene just a few days prior to this. On Tuesday night the mighty Gunners played the unstoppable Shakhtar Donetsk and in so doing would come up against the former Gunner Eduardo Da Silva.

For a brief reminder of why we love Eduardo, he was an unknown who replaced Thierry Henry, and after 6 months or so, really started replacing Henry. I remember his falling over, over the shoulder goal against Everton. True Class! This was all disrupted by a Martin "His not that kind of player" Taylor horror tackle. It broke him in half, and did pretty much the same to the Gunners season!Eduardo was out for a year pretty much and even though he scored a wonder goal against Burnley on his return, the niggling injuries as a result of the original injury always stopped his return. So much so that last season with no fit strikers he was still left out in place of Arshavin as a central striker.He understood he needed to move on to play and spoke to the boss about it.

He was subsequently transferred to Shakhtar for 6 million and has now scored six goals for them this season. Upon being sold he wrote an open letter to the fans of Arsenal that was published on Arsenal.com. And truly, he showed his class. When asked if he would celebrate if he scored, he said no. He had simply too much love and respect for the Arsenal and the Fans. And as Murphy has prescribed in his law, Eduardo knocked away the consolation goal. It was something beautiful, something truly poetic. I have never in my life seen a crowd cheer for an opposition goal like that! Even the stadium announcer got in on the action!

The reason I bring this all up is simple. On Sunday Arsenal face Man City (Mini Arsenal). On sunday they face Adebayor. Emmanuel, please look at Eduardo and see the reason he is classy and you are not. Last season, Adebayor was money hungry and fought to be released from Arsenal in order to make more money. He left Arsenal with disrespect. When Arsenal played Man City he stamped on Robin van Persie's face and was somehow not sent off. He of course later scored a goal and ran across the field to show disrespect again to the Arsenal fans. Adebayor and class only go in the same sentence if you talking about how much he lacks it.

Who said you have to leave a club in a cloud of dust. Who said that at all. In recent times Pires, Henry and Eduardo have all received welcome returns. Adebayor should best hope he is injured on Sunday, although he is also lucky Wilshere is suspended, because that my son would be a red card worth taking!

Come on the Arsenal! and for one more time

ED . . .. . . . . . UARDO!!!!

And now for the Bonus Blog


Due to last weeks inability to post a blog, i have decided to treat you with a double bonus blog this week. The Currie Cup is down to its final. The best two teams (As much as it pains me to say this!) are in the final and a deserving winner will be chosen from this battle! Another thing that will happen after the final next week is the bok touring team will be announced. Below are the Jabu picks for the best player from each team in the season and the player I feel should be included in the Bok Squad. Please note I have only included the 6 teams that vie for the semi-finals and not the Puma's and Leopards


Sharks: Pat Lambie - The dynamic young utility forward has the ability to play at fullback, centre or flyhalf and would seem an obvious inclusion based on that versatility. Mvovo may get most of the Sharks credits this year, but Lambie wins the All things Jabu sharks player of the year award!


Bulls: I don't watch the bulls play, except when they play the Cheetahs or in Semi Finals. They lost all three of these games this year and no one player stood out for me. So I will go with Guthro Steenkamp just because I think he had a great tri nations when really the Springboks didn't.


Cheetahs: Coenie Oosthuizen - The try scoring prop, mentored by Os du Randt and plays a similar style of rugby. He is strong, direct and a great carrier of the ball. He always plays with a smile on his face and is pretty good in the scrums. In South Africa we keep producing great forwards and I think Coenie has every chance to be included in that category!


Western Province: Willem de Waal - A points machine, second only to Naas Botha in Currie Cup points history, a recent question was asked by commentators that if you could choose one player to take you a touchline kick to win a championship who would it be? Willem de Waal. As a Cheetahs fan I will never forget how he dictated play at Loftus one year. He is passed his prime in terms of age and will probably never feature for the Springboks, but he has done everything right to be considered and for that he can be proud!


Lions: Elton Jantjies - As previously discussed, I rank this kid very very highly and believe that he is going to have a promising career. It is a big win for the Lions that big money has arrived as no body will be able to steal this shining star for them. This man will win trophies wherever he plays. That i would bet about 20 cents on (I'm not much of a gambler, if you do want a bet, see here!)


Griquas: Bjorn Basson - 22 tries, he smashed the previous records and is a big loss to the Super 15 hopes of the Cheetahs franchise as he has decided to try (good pun i know) his luck at the Blue Bulls next year. Good Luck Bjorn!


Overall: I'm going to betray my heart here and move away from the Cheetahs, I will say that the best player of the season of the lot will go to Elton Jantjies. Not only for his own performances, but for what he did to reinvigorate the Lions. Well done young chap!


Until next time. Enjoy the Sport


JABU