July 22, 2006: The Emirates Stadium Opens

July 22, 2006, 20 years ago: The Emirates Stadium, the new home of North London's Arsenal Football Club, opens, just 500 yards from their former home since 1913, Arsenal Stadium, nicknamed Highbury for its neighborhood.

Arsenal had played at Highbury since 1913, but after the Taylor Report demanded that all British soccer teams convert to all-seater stadiums, its seating capacity was reduced to about 38,000. In order to compete for top players with the more successful teams in Europe, Arsenal needed a bigger stadium with better amenities to meet revenue needs.

The first event at the 60,704-seat bowl is a testimonial match for retiring forward Dennis Bergkamp.

The current Arsenal players are joined by several former club stars in a game against the club with whom the man Arsenal fans called "God" began, AFC Ajax of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The 1st half was each team's current players, although several on each side were unavailable due insufficient rest from the recently-concluded World Cup. Arsenal would have Bergkamp (the guest of honor usually plays in the testimonial, presuming he can), but no one else of note, as Thierry Henry was being held back for the "Legends" team in the 2nd half. In contrast, Ajax were able to field Maartin Stekelenburg, Jaap Stam, Wesley Sneijder, Jan Vertonghen, Klaas Jan Huntelaar, and a man who would later captain Arsenal, Thomas Vermaelen. In the 37th minute, Huntelaar scored the stadium's 1st goal.

Bob Wilson, the goalkeeper for Arsenal's 1971 Double-winning team, introduced the Legends teams. Ajax's players included Frank Rijkaard (who had just managed FC Barcelona to defeat Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League Final), Marco van Basten, Edgar Davids, Danny Blind, twins Frank and Ronald de Boer, Edwin van der Sar, and Ajax' greatest legend, Johan Cruijff, 59 years old and 22 years past his last competitve match, who managed and appeared as a substitute.

Arsenal's legends included Henry, David Seaman, Lee Dixon, Nigel Winterburn, Patrick Vieira, Steve Bould, Ian Wright, Emmanuel Petit, and 3 men who had played for both teams: Bergkamp, Marc Overmars and Nwankwo Kanu. Also appearing for Arsenal, though he had played for them for just 2 seasons, was Giovanni van Bronckhorst, who had captained the Netherlands at the World Cup, but had starred for Ajax's arch-rivals, Rotterdam side Feyenoord, and had played against Arsenal in the recent CL Final. No hard feelings on either side.

In the 55th minute, Henry put a shot past van der Sar, then the star goalie of Manchester United. Ronald de Boer missed a penalty in the 61st. Kanu gave Arsenal the lead in the 80th. Every Arsenal player seemed to be trying to Bergkamp the ball to let him score, but it just didn't happen. It did still end 2-1 in Arsenal's favor. Afterward, Bergkamp said a few words to the crowd, and was picked up on his teammates' shoulders, and given a lap of honor.

The 1st competitive match at the stadium didn't go so well: On August 19, 2006, Arsenal opened their Premier League season at home, against Birmingham team Aston Villa. Olof Mellberg, a Villa defender, scored the 1st official goal at the stadium in the 53rd minute. Gilberto Silva scored the 1st Arsenal goal in the 84th, and the match ended 1-1.

Arsenal were in a transition period, and not just from the old stadium to the new one. Paying off the stadium debt meant selling off some stars, including Vieira the season before, and Henry the season after; and some players who were not yet stars.

Manager Arsène Wenger had won 3 Premier League titles and 4 FA Cups, including 2 Doubles in 1998 and 2002. But now, he had broken his great team up and rebuilt around youth: Whereas the centerpiece of his trophy-winning side had been French-Senegalese defensive midfielder Vieira, it would now be Spanish-Catalan attacking midfielder Cesc Fàbregas.

But it never seemed to be enough. There was a 2nd-place finish in 2008, trips to the Semifinals of both the CL and the FA Cup in 2009, and defeats in the League Cup Final in 2007 and 2011. But he couldn't finish the job. Over the next few years, for reasons of both finances and players' egos, Wenger would also have to sell Fàbregas, Ashley Cole, Freddie Ljungberg, Jens Lehmann, Aliksandr Hleb, Emmanuel Adebayor, Samir Nasri and Robin van Persie. Wenger still managed to win the FA Cup in 2014, 2015 and 2017, and keep the team in the top 4 places in the PL, thus keeping them in the CL.

Some of these players were more easily forgiven for leaving than others, but many fans blamed Wenger, rather than team management who had to pay off the stadium's debt, for a period of "decline" that would have been considered a spectacular success by most teams' standards. Many people, including Arsenal fans, blamed the new stadium itself, claiming it lacked sufficient "atmosphere." Fans of arch-rival Tottenham Hotspur, as they had with the previous stadium, called it "The Library," since it sort-of rhymed with "Highbury." Begging the question: How would a Tottenham fan know what the inside of a library sounds like?

On a personal level, knowing that the United Arab Emirates are a dictatorship, treating women, immigrants, and people of religions other than Islam badly, but ignoring such things if they happen to be wealthy tourists for their resort cities such as Dubai, I would prefer that both the stadium's name and the team's shirts would no longer have Emirates Airways as a sponsor.

In 2018, Wenger was given the 1960 Casey Stengel treatment, and he "resigned." Then came a true decline, but it was stopped before it could become disastrous. Mikel Arteta, one of the Cup-winning players Wenger had signed, became the manager, and won the 2020 FA Cup, before restoring Arsenal's PL position. In 2026, he won the PL title.

Statues of Wenger, Bergkamp, Henry, former Captain Tony Adams, 1930s manager Herbert Chapman, and Ken Friar, who started working for Arsenal as a 12-year-old messenger boy and, in 2022, is the 87-year-old president emeritus of the club, now stand outside the stadium.

The Emirates Stadium has hosted international matches, including 9 by the Brazil national team through the 2025-26 season. It has also hosted concerts, including by Bruce Springsteen in 2008, Coldplay in 2012, Green Day in 2013, and The Killers in 2022. In 2008, considered "a shining example of Anglo-French co-operation," it hosted a summit meeting between Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Great Britain and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France.

Fans of other big clubs, or would-be big clubs, wanted their own showplace stadium now. Manchester City had already gotten one in 2003. In 2016, West Ham United moved from Upton Park in the East End to the 2012 Olympic Stadium, renamed the London Stadium, not tucked so deep into East London, and, like Arsenal, their fans complained about a loss of atmosphere.

In 2019, Tottenham, a.k.a. "Spurs," having left their old White Hart Lane stadium, and spent 2 years playing home games at Wembley Stadium while the new stadium was built on the site of the old one, moved into Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which, to one-up Arsenal, had a slightly higher capacity of 62,850. Of course, Arsenal fans called The Lane "The Shithole," and noticed that the new stadium, from the outside, actually looked like a toilet bowl. Clearly, Spurs management didn't think the design through. Nevertheless, it has begun regularly hosting regular-season NFL games, as had the old Wembley, the new Wembley, and rugby venue Twickenham Stadium.

In Liverpool, Everton FC replaced Goodison Park with Hill Dickinson Stadium in 2025, while neighboring Liverpool FC have instead chosen to modernize and expand Anfield. Also in 2025, Manchester United approved a 100,000-seat "New Trafford," a.k.a. "Wembley of the North," adjacent to Old Trafford, hoping to open it by 2030. Contractual issues still stall West London team Chelsea FC's plans to either expand or replace Stamford Bridge, mostly rebuilt in the 1990s and 2000s but with one stand still in use since 1973.

Top 10 Observations of the 2026 World Cup

10. The Hosting Went Okay. Sure, the ticket prices for the games, the parking, and (at least on New Jersey Transit) the trains were insane. But there were no complaints about the stadiums, no complaints about the amenities, no unpleasant situations between fans. Not in the U.S., not in Canada, not in Mexico. Everybody seemed to get along.

We welcomed people from all over the world:

* North America: Canada, Mexico, Panama, Haiti, Curaçao.

* South America: Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay.

* Africa: Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, South Africa, and Cabo Verde.

* Europe: England, Scotland, France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Czechia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Türkiye.

* Asia: Japan, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, and, amazingly, visitors from Iran and Iraq were treated well, by the people if not by the government.

* Oceania: Australia and New Zealand.

And while there was certainly banter between fans of various countries, there were no unpleasant incidents. No fights. None of Mexican fans' tendency toward homophobic slurs, not even in the Azteca. No hooligans smashing up bars or store windows. Even the drunks were pleasant:

9. Scotland's Tartan Army and Norway's Rowing Fans. Scotland hadn't qualified since 1998, and hadn't won a World Cup match since 1990. I once read a book about soccer, by a Scotsman who lived in Mexico for a few years. He said that if the World Cup were decided by who had the most frustrated fans, the Final would be between Scotland and Mexico.

But the Scottish fans made the most of it, "drinking Boston dry," taking over Fenway Park, even filling a section at Yankee Stadium. They were a great contrast with the English and their arrogance of "We invented football" and "It's coming home." It's a shame their team couldn't advance to the Knockout Stage.

"Deep-fry yer lobsters, we're gonna deep-fry yer lobsters!"

And the Norway fans, also seeing their team in the World Cup for the 1st time in 28 years, wearing their horned helmets that Vikings never actually wore, and their synchronized air-rowing, delighted Americans all the way to the Quarterfinal. If only Erling Haaland didn't play for Manchester City...

"Rowing" in Times Square

8. It Was Good to See Arsène Wenger Again. Knowing that his protégé, Mikel Arteta, had finally managed Arsenal to the Premier League title, and that several current and former Arsenal players were playing, and that, in his official role with FIFA, he could watch the games without pressure, he looked happy. Older, but much more relaxed. Like a former President.

7. The Early Shocks. It just doesn't feel right to have a World Cup without Italy -- especially in the U.S., with New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Toronto and San Francisco all having a heavy paesano presence. And for major powers Germany and the Netherlands to be knocked out in the Round of 32, it just didn't make sense. Granted, they both lost to good teams, Paraguay and Morocco, respectively. And it's never a surprise to see the Dutch lose on penalties. But Ze Germans, losing on penalties? That was a bigger shock than Scotland making it and Italy not!

Once Die Mannschaft and De Oranje were out, it felt like it could be anybody's tournament. Maybe the U.S did have a chance. Maybe it really would be "coming home" to England. Maybe it would be somebody that nobody expected.

This was heightened by Brazil losing in the Quarterfinals. Just as Benjamin Franklin once said, "Every man has two countries: His own, and France," every soccer fan seems to have two countries: His own, and either the Netherlands or Brazil. The two most stylist "football nations," and each has lots of beautiful women in the stands.

This time, though, Brazil were dull. Defense-minded. Neymar being hurt made things worse, but it looked like Vinícius Júnior was carrying the attack. Watching Brazil "park the bus" is like watching Ozzy Osbourne sing "You Light Up My Life." It's just... it's just... it's just wrong-guh.

6. The Saga of Cabo Verde. Formerly known as Cape Verde, this chain-of-islands nation is about 430 air miles off the west coast of Africa, and over 1,800 from Portugal, the nation from which it gained its independence in 1975. It wasn't the smallest nation by population to qualify for the World Cup -- Curaçao is home to 156,000 people, roughly as many as Paterson, New Jersey -- but it does have only about 490,000 people, roughly as many as Staten Island. And, at 2,506 square miles, it's the smallest nation by land area ever to qualify.

They began the Group Stage by holding Spain, Champions in 2010 and one of the favorites this time, to a 0-0 draw. Then they held Uruguay, Quarterfinalists in 2018 and Semifinalists in 2010, to a 2-2 draw. Then they held Saudi Arabia to a 0-0 draw. To put that in perspective: As I said, Cabo Verde has less than half a million people; Spain, 50 million; Uruguay, 3.5 million; Saudi Arabia, 33 million. Population-wise, they should have been pounded. Instead, those 3 draws allowed them to finish 2nd to Spain in Group H, and advance, rather than sneaking in as 1 of the top 8 3rd-place teams.

Then came one of the greatest games in World Cup history, at the Miami Dolphins' stadium on July 3. They trailed Argentina, defending Champions, Finalists in 2014, and a nation of 46 million people, 1-0 until just before the hour, and tied it up. It ended 1-1, and it went to extra time.

Argentina seemed to end the dream in the 92nd, but Cabo Verde found another equalizer in the 103rd. All they had to do was hold that 2-2 score for another 20 minutes or so. With a 40-year-old goalkeeper. Against a team led by Lionel Messi. They couldn't do it, with the Albiceleste forcing an own goal in the 111th.

Saluting their fans after the game

As occasionally happens in soccer, one team won the game, while the other team won the hearts of the world. Unfortunately, as also occasionally happens, the officiating seemed to suggest an agenda. For all of Argentina's usual dirty play, they were only given 1 yellow card, and that in the 115th minute.

5. The U.S. Sabotaged by the Manager -- Again. You would think that, after the awful experience of having Jürgen Klinsmann, a lousy manager and a former Tottenham Hotspur player, the U.S. Soccer Federation wouldn't be dumb enough to hire another "Spurs" man in the job.

How dumb were they? They hired Mauricio Pochettino, a former Spurs manager. As manager at Paris Saint-Germain, whose financial advantages over the rest of France's Ligue 1 suggest that they should win every trophy, every season, he won the Coupe de France in 2021 and Ligue 1 in 2022 -- and that's it. Those are his only major trophies as a manager.

He lost in the Finals of the 2015 League Cup and the 2019 UEFA Champions League with Tottenham, of the 2024 League Cup with Chelsea, and of the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup with the U.S. And, famously, after challenging for the Premier League title with Spurs in 2015-16, he "finished 3rd in a 2-team race," behind Leicester City and Spurs' arch-rivals, Arsenal.

He was one Argentine who didn't do well at this tournament. The U.S. beat Paraguay, 4-1 at Los Angeles/Inglewood, and then beat Australia 2-0 at Seattle to assure Knockout Stage qualification. In the meaningless Group D finale, which should have told him which players should be played and in which positions, he lost 3-2 to Türkiye at L.A./Inglewood.

The U.S. failed to qualify in 2018; failed to get to the Knockout Stage in 1990, 1998 and 2006; got to the Round of 16 in 1994, 2010, 2014 and 2022; and got to the Quarterfinals in 2002. At this point in the program's development, and given home soil, getting to the Quarterfinals should have been the minimum for the World Cup run to be considered a success.

The U.S. beat Bosnia, 2-0 at San Francisco/Santa Clara. The controversy over the straight red card given to Falorin Balogun aside, the team should have played better in the Round of 16 against Belgium. Instead, they were dreadful, losing 4-1. Pochettino should have been fired before he even left the stadium.

It is true that the players simply aren't good enough. Christian Pulisic is never, ever, ever going to become our talismanic striker, no matter how much Fox and Men In Blazers' Roger Bennett try to promote him as "Captain America." And he's the best we've got.

It is also true that, whatever could be gotten out of these players, "Poch" wasn't going to be able to get it. You can take the idiot out of Tottenham, but you can't take the Tottenham out of the idiot.

4. England Trusted Arsenal... But Only So Far. Since winning the World Cup in 1966, with just 1 Arsenal player on the roster, George Eastham, and he didn't play a minute of it, England have avoided using Arsenal players. True, Arsenal have had a lot foreign players over the years: Scotsmen, Welshmen, "the Irish Connection" of the late 1970s, and Wenger's United Nations setup. But look:

* 1970: Arsenal had just won the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Arsenal players on the England team: None. Result: Quarterfinal, lost to Germany in extra time.

* 1974: In the interim, Arsenal had won the Premier League at the FA Cup in the same year, "doing The Double," reached another FA Cup Final, and had 2nd- and 3rd-place finishes. Arsenal players on the England team in 1973, as they attempted to qualify for the World Cup: None, although midfielder Peter Storey was sometimes a reserve. Result: They failed to qualify. Could they have used forwards Charlie George or John Radford? Midfielder Ray Kennedy? Winger George Armstrong? Left back Bob McNab? Yes.

* 1978: Arsenal were in a down period, so I can't blame England this time. Result: They failed to qualify.

* 1982: Arsenal had been to 4 cup finals, but won only 1, the 1979 FA Cup. They finished 3rd in 1981. So they had talent, although, as I pointed out, a lot of it was Irish, not English. Arsenal players on the England team: Left back Kenny Sansom and midfielder Graham Rix. Result: In a format not used since, England advanced to the 2nd Group Stage, making them one of the last 12 teams, but they did not finish 1st, and did not advance to the Final. Can't blame this one on not selecting Arsenal players.

* 1986: Arsenal were in a down period. Selected for the England team: Sansom and right back Viv Anderson. Result: Quarterfinal, England defeated by a cheating Argentina. It's hard to imagine that adding English players from Arsenal would have made the difference. That would not be the case the next time:

* 1990: Arsenal had won the 1987 League Cup and the 1989 Football League title. Players on the England team: None. Centerback and Captain Tony Adams was not selected, and would have had to be dropped anyway, due to his drunken-driving conviction which came after the selection. Result: England reached the Semifinal, and were defeated by Germany on penalties.

Would a sober and selected Adams have made a difference? By himself, probably not. Would having Lee Dixon at right back instead of Queens Park Rangers' Paul Parker, Nigel Winterburn at left back instead of Nottingham Forest's Stuart Pearce, David Rocastle on the right wing instead of former Tottenham star Chris Waddle, and Alan Smith up top along with Tottenham star Gary Lineker, instead of Aston Villa's David Platt in central midfield, have made a difference, first against Germany, and then against Argentina in the Final? Probably.

* 1994: Arsenal had won the 1991 League title, both domestic cups in 1993, and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1994. This time, Arsenal players Adams, Dixon, goalkeeper David Seaman and forward Kevin Campbell were on the team, but it didn't qualify. Adding Smith and Winterburn would have helped.

* 1998: Arsenal had won The Double again. Players on the England team: Seaman, Adams, and centerback Martin Keown. Result: Quarterfinal, losing to Argentina on penalties. I'm not sure having Dixon instead of Gary Neville of Manchester United at right back would have made a difference, although Dixon was known as a good penalty-taker.

* 2002: Arsenal had won The Double again. Players on the England team: Seaman, Keown, centerback Sol Campbell (with Tottenham when he was selected for the 1998 squad), and left back Ashley Cole. Result: Quarterfinals, losing to eventual Champions Brazil. This is probably as good as it could have gotten, for both club and country.

* 2006: Arsenal had won the FA Cup in 2003 and 2005, had their "Invincible" Premier League title season in 2004, and reached the Champions League Final in 2006. Players on the England team: Campbell, Cole and Theo Walcott. This time, England made the opposite mistake: Walcott probably wasn't ready. Result: Quarterfinals, losing to Portugal on penalties.

* 2010: Arsenal had been good but not great in the interim. Players on the England team: None. Walcott was not selected. Jack Wilshere was injured, and would have been selected, but probably not chosen as a starter. Result: Round of 16, losing to Germany.

There was no other Arsenal player from England who could have made a difference. Still, by this point, I had become an Arsenal fan, and the idea of rooting for 4 Chelsea players (including the defected Cole), 3 Liverpool players, 2 Manchester United players, and 5 players for arch-rival Tottenham was sickening.

* 2014: Arsenal had been good but not great, but they had just won the FA Cup. Players on the England team: Wilshere and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Result: England finished last in its group. Who could have made a difference? Walcott was injured, and might not have been selected, anyway. Right back Carl Jenkinson and left back Kieran Gibbs weren't selected, and shouldn't have been, anyway.

* 2018: Arsenal had finished 2nd in 2016, and won the FA Cup again in 2015 and 2017. Players on the England team: Forward Danny Welbeck. That's it. Wilshere was injured again. Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain was no longer starting for Arsenal, so he wasn't going to be selected for England. Nor were backup centerbacks Rob Holding and Calum Chambers.

Result: Semifinals, losing to Croatia in extra time. A healthy Wilshere could have helped, but would it have been enough to beat Croatia and then France in the Final? I don't think so. So, for the 6th World Cup in a row, this one doesn't fit the narrative.

* 2022: Arsenal had won the FA Cup again in 2020. Players on the England team: Forward Bukayo Saka, centerback Ben White, and goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale. Result: Quarterfinals, losing to France -- with the winning goal scored by Olivier Giroud of AC Milan, formerly of Arsenal.

Would starting Ramsdale in goal instead of Jordan Pickford have made a difference? Would having Eddie Nketiah available as a forward? Would having Emile Smith-Rowe available as a midfielder? Put the three of them together, and they might have beaten France, who went on to lose the Final to Argentina on penalties.

* 2026: Arsenal had finished 3 years in a row, and finally won the Premier League. Players on the England team: Saka, midfielders Declan Rice and Eberechi Eze, and forward Noni Madueke. This was the most Arsenal-laden England team since the 1930s. And it was the England team least dependent upon Spurs, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man U in my lifetime.

Result: England reached the Semifinal against Argentina, including beating Mexico at the Azteca Stadium, which counts as a massive upset; and eliminating Norway in extra time in the Quarterfinal. But manager Thomas Tuchel refused to start any of them in the Semifinal against Argentina except Rice. Result: England led 1-0 in the 85th minute, and blew it, losing, 2-1. If Saka had started, who knows?

So: England would have done better with more Arsenal representation in 1970, 1974, 1990, 1994, 2022 and 2026; but probably not in 1978, 1982, 1986, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 or 2018.

3. The Other Arsenal Connections. Aside from the 4 players selected for England, these Gunners chosen by their national teams for the tournament: Backup goalkeeper David Raya, midfielder Mikel Moreno and midfielder Martin Zubimendi of Spain; centerback William Saliba of France; midfielder and Captain Martin Ødegaard of Norway; centerback Gabriel Magalhães and forward Gabriel Martinelli of Brazil; Forward Kai Havertz of Germany; forward Leandro Trossard of Belgium; forward Viktor Gyökeres of Sweden; and left back Piero Hincapié of Ecuador. And Argentina's goalie, Emiliano Martinez, used to play for Arsenal.

2. The Deserving Team Lost. Putting aside everything about the country itself, from its internal racism to its welcoming of surviving Nazi war criminals after World War II, from its "Dirty War" and the tens of thousands of people its Fascist government made to "disappear" to the fixing of the 1978 World Cup they hosted to the stupid invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982: Historically, Argentina have been one of the dirtiest national teams in soccer.

Granted, Spain were no prize, either. But the world seemed to be divided into 2 camps going into the Final: People who were rooting not so much for Argentina but for Lionel Messi; and people who might not have liked Spain, but were rooting for them because they hated Argentina.

This included, outside of Argentina, pretty much every Spanish-speaking country on Earth, including those that had once been part of the Spanish Empire, which had devastated those lands' indigenous peoples, from the Tainos of Puerto Rico to the Aztecs and Mayans of Mexico, from the Incas of Peru to the natives of the Philippines.

And they were justified by Argentina's behavior in the Final. Only one of their players was sent off, Enzo Fernández, for two yellow cards, both late and dumb: One for dissent in the 85th minute, and one for a pointless foul in the 93rd, stoppage time. But they should have had at least two others sent off.

Martinez made 11 saves, a record for a World Cup Final. But Argentina had only 2 shots in 125 minutes, none of them on target. They seemed to determined to park the bus and play for penalties, which, despite the 3-3 result, was how they won the 2022 Final against France.

Unai Simón, of Athletic Bilbao, a goalie good enough to make Raya, the goalie of the Premier League Champions, his backup, led a defense that allowed just 1 goal in 7 games. Merino saved Spain with very late goals against Portugal in the Round of 16 and Belgium (the only team to score on Spain) in the Quarterfinal. Forward Lamine Yamal of Barcelona, only 19 years old, was Spain's breakout star. But it was another Barcelona player, substitute Ferran Torres (no relation to Fernando Torres), who broke the deadlock in the 106th minute.

After a career based on benefiting from his teammates cheating, both club and country, Lionel Messi was beaten, and beaten fairly. Did the team that deserved to win win? Yes. Even more so, the team that deserved to lose lost.

1. Trump Got Booed Like He Deserved. He can spin it however he wants, but did he really believe he could go into a stadium in New Jersey, close to New York, filled with Spanish-speaking people, most of them immigrants or at most 2 generations removed from immigrants, and not get booed?

The only sporting event he can go to now and not get booed is the Army-Navy Game, where everyone is under orders to cheer. He even got booed at a NASCAR event. There was an Iowa vs. Iowa State football game, in a State that he won with 51, 53 and 55 percent of the vote, increasing over time, and he got booed and had people giving him the finger. He's been booed at the Super Bowl in 2017, the World Series in 2019, and the NBA Finals and the World Cup this year.

But he's also a jinx. In 2019, he went to the World Series, hosted by the Washington Nationals, and they lost the game -- but won the Series. A month later, he went to the Alabama-LSU game, a home game for 'Bama at Tuscaloosa. 'Bama were ranked Number 3, LSU Number 2. LSU won, so it wasn't exactly an upset, but 'Bama should still have been able to defend their home field. Trump jinxed them.

This year, he went to Game 3 of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden, and it was the only game the Knicks lost in a 16-game Playoff stretch. Then he tried to intervene on the U.S. soccer team's behalf at the World Cup, and we got slaughtered in the next game. Then he said he was rooting for Argentina, because he sees Messi as "a winner," and because Argentina's President, a conservative named Javier Milei, has been friendly to him, while Spain's Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, a Socialist, has opposed him.

Yesterday afternoon, on Deadline White House on MS Now, host Nicolle Wallace, who had been White House Communications Director in George W. Bush's 2nd term, and a key adviser in both Bush's 2004 re-election campaign and John McCain's 2008 campaign, interviewed Kevin Blackistone and Pablo Torre, both veterans of the late, lamented Pardon the Interruption on ESPN. Referring to the Balogun situation, Blackistone, who is black, said, "Once again, Donald Trump trampled on the ethics of a particular institution, and this gentleman suffered the consequences."

She asked if FIFA's appeasement of Trump with the newly-made-up, and totally unearned "FIFA Peace Prize" had come back to bite them when Spain cropped Trump out of their official victory photo -- and then came back to bite Trump when FIFA, themselves, did the same with theirs. She said, "Appeasement never works out for the appeaser."

Torre, of Filipino and therefore also of Spanish descent, said, "FIFA is a bit of the apex predator when it comes to sports' corrupt governing bodies. So this, for them, I think, is almost literally the price of doing business." He then brought up Robert J. Hanlon's line, known as Hanlon's Razor: "Never ascribe to malice that which can be blamed on incompetence." He said, "At certain point, your incompetence becomes malice, because you are the literal President." He went on:

I like to imagine how the athletes that Trump has publicly picked and rooted for have felt over the last year. Because we have seen the New York Knicks, Nicole, when he showed up to that game, lose the one Playoff game in their entire magical run. That was the game that he attended. We have seen him mention that he played, I believe it was golf with England's Harry Kane. England loses. We have seen him say that he's going to pick Leo Messi and Argentina, and Argentina loses. It's just a bit of a running joke in sports.

So, once again, what former Republican strategist turned anti-Trump crusader Rick Wilson titled his book has come true: "Everything Trump Touches Dies."

Arsenal Is For Anybody

Notice the Yankee caps.

Today, Arsenal Football Club took a 1-0 lead over Paris Saint-Germain after 6 minutes of the UEFA Champions League Final in Budapest, Hungary, and couldn't hold it. All the money that PSG got from their owners, the oil-rich slavedriving royal family of the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar, and the assistance from referee Daniel Siebert, and the game ended 1-1 after extra time. PSG then won on penalty kicks, 4-3.

At the end, I felt like I did when the Yankees lost Game 7 of the 2001 World Series: Drained, too tired to feel anything more than disappointed. It took longer for the steroid use of the opposition to be revealed in that case. In this case, as with Arsenal's defeat to FC Barcelona in the CL Final 20 years earlier, the dirty play and the favoring thereof was obvious while the game was in progress.

It was the biggest game in Arsenal's history, and they lost it -- through little fault of their own, but they did lose it.

And I, for one, have never been prouder to be an Arsenal fan.

It is true that, as late as the morning of March 22, Arsenal were still eligible for all 4 trophies for which they were eligible. That day, they lost the League Cup Final to Manchester City. On April 4, they lost to Southampton in the Quarterfinal of the FA Cup. On April 19, they lost to Manchester City, which took their Premier League destiny out of their hands. They were still in the Semifinal of the Champions League, but it was looking like they would go 0-for-4 in trophies.

But they beat Atlético Madrid in the CL Semifinal, and advanced to the Final to play PSG, the defending Champions, who had eliminated Arsenal in the previous season's Semifinal. And Man City faltered, losing League games. Arsenal won their last 5 Premier League games. On May 19, Man City lost to Bournemouth, meaning they could no longer finish ahead of Arsenal. Arsenal were the Premier League Champions, for the 1st time in 22 years. It was their 1st trophy in 6 years, since the 2020 FA Cup.

Upon the final whistle of City's defeat, thousands of people descended upon the Emirates Stadium in North London. Wherever Arsenal fans gather, they gathered: In Manhattan, in Montreal, in Mombassa, in Mumbai, in Melbourne. All of England's "big clubs" have fans from all over the world, but most of them don't celebrate diversity like Arsenal do. Even the new Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, is an Arsenal fan, and has seen games at one of the Arsenal bars in Brooklyn. (But he's also a Mets fan, so take his Gooner status with a grain of salt.)

Today, I saw the match in the space that used to be the home of the NYC Arsenal Supporters, on East 14th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues in Manhattan's East Village, before it began filling up and became a victim of its own success, leading to O'Hanlon's, a block away on 14th between 1st and 2nd, becoming the new headquarters. From 2011 to 2019, this space was known as the Blind Pig, named for an alternate term for a speakeasy, one of the secret bars that sprang up all over America during Prohibition, 1920 to 1933.

In 2019 -- before COVID -- the Blind Pig had to close, due to a rent increase. Coyote Ugly, the bar made famous in the 2000 film of the same title, moved around the corner from 2nd Avenue into the former Blind Pig space. Obviously, the decor is different, but the space is still recognizable. As with both the Blind Pig and Coyote Ugly's former location, the bartenders are still, as the English would say, "fit as fook." And they were willing to take in spillover customers who couldn't get into O'Hanlon's.

When it was over, the consensus was that we were disappointed in the result, and angry at the officials, but the Premier League title was no consolation prize, it was still something to celebrate. (Indeed, Arsenal will have its trophy parade in London tomorrow.)

As with my fellow fans of the Yankees and the New Jersey Devils, I have "found my people." And the hope for more trophies over the next few years, under manager Mikel Arteta, is strong.

We are The Arsenal: We are for anybody willing to join us, and we fear nobody.

Arsenal Are the Premier League Champions!

Today, it was 103 degrees in Central New Jersey. But I didn't care: I wore a polyester shirt and a wool scarf.

Today, May 19, 2026, at 4:25 PM U.S. Eastern Time, 9:25 British time, despite a goal in the 95th minute, Manchester City ended its game with AFC Bournemouth in a 1-1 draw. This means that they cannot finish ahead of Arsenal FC in the Premier League table. This means that, for the 1st time since 2004, Arsenal are the Premier League Champions!

It is the 14th title for the club. Under the old format, the Football League First Division, they won in 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1938, 1948, 1953, 1971, 1989 and 1991. Under the current format, the Premier League, they have won in 1998, 2002, 2004 (going unbeaten, the only team ever to do so) and now, 2026.

Having won the FA Cup right after his arrival as manager in 2020, having previously won it with Arsenal as a player in 2014, Mikel Arteta has now won the Premier League title as a manager.

Tonight, the 115 rule violations for which Man City have still not been punished don't matter. Their manager, Josep "Pep" Guardiola, who cheated like hell at FC Barcelona and then Bayern Munich before Man City decided they would do anything to win, legal or otherwise, leaving after next Sunday's season finale doesn't matter. All the cheating that was done to Arsenal in the intervening 22 years doesn't matter. All the accusations that Arsenal are "boring" (we've heard that before) or won because of VAR (Video Assisted Referee, as if getting calls right was a bad thing) don't matter.

All that matters is, Arsenal have triumphed.

Someone said online, "We've gone from the drama of the Aguero moment to referees watching a screen to give a foul from a corner to decide titles. Premier League is a mess."

Wrong. As if Sergio Agüero's goal to give City the 2012 Premier League title, before Guardiola got there, was better than Michael Thomas' goal to give Arsenal the 1989 title.

The Premier League is not a mess. It has reached the minimum it always should have. We have gone from referees giving Guardiola at City, Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, and Jose Mourinho wherever he has managed (mostly at Chelsea), calls they didn't deserve; to forcing the referees to acknowledge their mistakes and get the calls right, so that the team that actually deserves to win the League title actually wins it.

It reminds me that, in 2015, Met fans demanded that Yankee Fans root for their team in the World Series, because they were "the New York team."

Really? Met fans have never rooted for the Yankees because they were the New York team in the World Series.

They didn't root for the Yankees in 1963, 1977, 1978, 1981 or 2024, when we were playing the Los Angeles O'Malleys.

They didn't root for us in 1962, when we were playing the San Francisco Giants, and wouldn't have rooted for us in any of the other seasons when the Giants, had they made it, would have played the Yankees.

They didn't root for us in 1964, against the St. Louis Cardinals.

They didn't root for us in 1976, against the Cincinnati Big Rose Machine.

They didn't root for us in 1998, against the San Diego Padres.

They didn't root for us in 1996 or 1999, no matter how much they hated the Atlanta Braves.

They didn't root for us in 2009, no matter how much they hated the Philadelphia Phillies.

They didn't even root for us in 2001, against the Arizona Diamondbacks, after the 9/11 attacks, when New York really needed that World Championship, more than it needed the one the Mets won in 1969, more than it needed the one the Yankees won in 1977.

But Met fans wanted Yankee Fans to root for them in 2015, Oh, hell, no!

But then, baseball doesn't have promotion and relegation, does it? If it did, the Mets would currently be struggling to get back from Class AAA to the major leagues.

Now, there have been fans of other teams who have said they would rather see Arsenal, or anybody else, win it than see Man City (or, at least, Guardiola) win it again.

But the vitriol of people who didn't want to see Arsenal win it...

I know why. It's because Arsenal have always been seen as a "foreign team":

* The team began in 1886, and while some of the founding players were English, some were Scottish, including the original Captain, David Danskin.

* In the 1930s, they won the League 5 times, and the FA Cup twice, with Scottish forward Alex James and Welsh players, halfback Charlie Jones and forward Bob John.

* They won the League in 1948 and 1953, won the FA Cup in 1950, and were runner-up in both in 1952, with Scots Alex Forbes at right half and Jimmy Logie at inside right, and Welshman Walley Barnes at left back.

* They won the League and the FA Cup, "The Double," in 1971, with Scots Bob Wilson in goal, Frank McLintock as centerback and Captain, and George Graham and Eddie Kelly in midfield; Welshman John Roberts as another centerback; and starting right back and reserve left back Sammy Nelson were from Northern Ireland.

* They won the FA Cup in 1979 with "The Irish Connection." Midfield wizard Liam Brady, forward Frank Stapleton, and centerback David O'Leary were from Dublin. And 1971 holdovers Rice and Nelson, goalkeeper Pat Jennings, and manager Terry Neill were from Belfast. And centerback Willie Young was Scottish.

* Graham became manager in 1986, and built a League title winner that included 1979 holdover O'Leary, and one of the earliest continental Europeans to make a difference in the English League, Swedish midfielder Anders Limpar. He also built one of the earliest English Champions to have a significant black contingent, with players like David Rocastle and the aforementioned Michael Thomas. He then went back to Scandinavia to get Dane John Jensen.

* Arsène Wenger became manager in 1996, coming from France, and built a true United Nations roster, with Europeans, Africans, Europeans of African descent, South Americans. He won The Double in 1998 and 2002, went unbeaten in winning the Premier League in 2004, won FA Cups in 2003 and 2005, and reached the UEFA Champions League Final in 2006.

During this period, it became impossible to win the Premier League with a team of all Englishmen, or even of all men from the British Isles. A foreigner-filled lineup became necessary. But it seemed as though English referees were treating all Arsenal players as foreign, including the Englishmen; and all players on certain classically English teams -- the Manchester teams, the Liverpool teams, Chelsea, West Ham, Newcastle, etc. -- as English, regardless of their national origin.

Arsenal finished 2nd the last 3 seasons, behind Liverpool once and Man City twice. This time, nothing stopped them, not even a bad defeat to Man City a few weeks ago.

So, if you like, call them "the worst Premier League Champions ever." You have the right to be that stupid. Call them that.

As long as you call them the Champions.

Their game on this coming Sunday, away to South London team Crystal Palace, now means nothing. But the following Saturday, they will play in the Champions League Final for the 1st time in 20 years, against defending Champions Paris Saint-Germain, in Budapest, Hungary.

With the big domestic trophy in hand, there will be desire, but no desperation. The season is a success, regardless of what happens in Budapest.

But they've been the best team in the CL all season long. One more game.

May 17, 2006: Arsenal's Champions League Robbery

Top row, left to right: Sol Campbell, Jens Lehmann, Gilberto Silva,

Emmanuel Eboué, Kolo Touré, Robert Pires.

Bottom row, left to right: Aliaksandr Hleb, Cesc Fàbregas,

Freddie Ljungberg, Thierry Henry, Ashley Cole.

May 17, 2006, 20 years ago: North London soccer team Arsenal FC reach the UEFA Champions League Final for the first time, at the Stade de France in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.

The fact that Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger got a team with Emmanuel Eboué at right back, Aliaksandr Hleb at left midfield, and the weak-minded (and not yet 19-year-old) Cesc Fàbregas in central midfield into the Final shows that he was a better manager than Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp could ever be.

FC Barcelona were managed by Frank Rijkaard, who had won the Champions League, then known as the European Cup, as a player with AC Milan in 1989 and 1990, and with Ajax Amsterdam after the tournament's name change in 1995.

This team was absolutely loaded, with the great Brazilian forward Ronaldinho; Cameroonian forward Samuel Eto'o, rising Spanish stars Xavi and Andrés Iniesta, Swedish star Henrik Larsson; and national Captains Carles Puyol of Spain, Giovanni van Bronckhorst of the Netherlands, and Rafael Márquez of Mexico.

(Lionel Messi had already made his debut for Barcelona, but was not listed as a starter or a substitute for this game. Former star and future manager Josep "Pep" Guardiola was wrapping up his playing career elsewhere.)

When Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was sent off with a straight red card in the 18th minute by referee Terje Hauge -- dubiously, if not incorrectly -- and Wenger had to send in backup goalie Manuel Almunia, later so bad he was nicknamed "The Clown" by his own team's fans -- he had to take off an attacking player to meet the down-to-10-men requirement, and he chose Robert Pires. A massive mistake.

Arsenal actually went 1-0 up in the 37th minute, thanks to a header by Sol Campbell. And they held that 1-0 lead into the 76th minute. And then...

Well, you didn't expect FC Barcelona, one of the dirtiest sports teams on the planet, to let that pass without cheating, did you? Eto'o's equalizer was clearly offside, but Hauge gave the goal. And then, in the 80th minute, Juliano Belletti put Barça up, 2-1. That was the final score.

Juliano Belletti

This turned out to be the last game for Arsenal for Pires, Campbell, the tapped-up Ashley Cole, and the retiring Dennis Bergkamp. And it was the beginning of the end at Arsenal for Thierry Henry, who captained Arsenal in the game, and picked the worst possible time to have a bad game. He did win a Champions League title... with Barcelona in 2009. By that point, Guardiola was managing them to tainted glory, and Messi was, along with Cristiano Ronaldo of arch-rival Real Madrid, being called the best player in the world.

I hadn't yet become an Arsenal fan. Which is a good thing. This game, known to Arsenal fans as "Heartbreak In Paris," the closest they have ever come to winning the Champions League, came just 6 days after my grandmother's death. I did not need this added to the list of things on my mind.

Arsenal would also be knocked out of the CL by Barcelona, albeit in earlier rounds, in 2010 and 2011, the latter being one of the most dubious games in team history, worthy of its own post, which I have written. Arsenal reached the Semifinals in 2009, but were knocked out by Manchester United; and 2025, knocked out by Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), who went on to win the Final.

In 2026, Arsenal have finally reached the Champions League Final again. It will be played on May 30, at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest, Hungary. The opponent will be PSG -- with some irony, the team that plays its home games at the Stade de France, site of Arsenal's heartbreak 20 years ago.

May 16, 2006: The Yankees Win a Game for Me (Or So It Seemed)

In the 2005 U.S. film adaptation of Nick Hornby's book Fever Pitch, Jimmy Fallon played Ben Wrightman, a high school math teacher, a baseball coach, and a fanatic Boston Red Sox fan. One of his students/players asks him, "You love the Red Sox, but have they ever loved you back?"

Fallon must be a good actor: In real life, he is a fan of the Red Sox' arch-rivals, the New York Yankees.

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I am also a Yankee Fan. (I usually try to write that with capital letters: Capital Y, Capital F.) I have loved the Yankees since the 1977 season, for nearly 50 years.

Have they ever loved me back? One time, it felt like they did, and at a time when I really needed it.

May 16, 2006, 20 years ago: My mother and I returned to my grandmother's house in Brick, not far from the Jersey Shore, for the first time since her death, 5 days earlier. I was still in a daze, not really in the right frame of mind to go through the place, and to see what I wanted to take back home. It was once a house full of comfort for me -- my safe zone, my happy place. Now, it felt completely empty. Even her cat wasn't there: Mom had already taken him with her.

We were met outside by Grandma's across-the-street neighbor. Sadly, I can't remember her name. For 5 years, they had gone together to games of the nearby minor-league baseball team, the Lakewood BlueClaws (now named the Jersey Shore BlueClaws). Grandma was a Met fan, and a Brooklyn Dodger fan before that, but the neighbor was a Yankee Fan.

I told her not to watch the Yankee game: Apparently, having no connection to Grandma, the Yankees were also in a daze: Playing at the old Yankee Stadium, they fell behind the Texas Rangers, 9-0 after 2 innings. Starting pitcher Shawn Chacón had nothing, and reliever Aaron Small didn't have much more.

But the Yankees stormed back. Derek Jeter hit a home run in the 6th to give them an 11-10 lead. But Joe Torre trusted Scott Proctor to pitch the 7th, and, as he did so often, he blew it, making it 12-11 Rangers. The Yankees tied it in the bottom of the inning, and then Mariano Rivera allowed a run in the 9th, making it 13-12 Rangers. In the bottom of the 9th, Johnny Damon singled, and Jorge Posada hit a home run. Final score: Yankees 14, Rangers 13.

It was the first time I could remember feeling good since it became clear that Grandma wasn't going to make it. And, for the first time, I felt like the Yankees had actually won a game just for me.

But I've always felt a little guilty about telling the neighbor not to watch the game. Hopefully, she's since seen it on the YES Network's Yankees Classics.

The next day, Arsenal lost the UEFA Champions League Final, under dubious circumstances. And I knew nothing about it at the time. I'm glad I didn't: Being an established Arsenal fan, and then losing that right after Grandma's death and funeral, might have been more than I could bear at the time. I guess God knew I wasn't ready for it.

May 7, 2006: The Highbury Farewell & the Tottenham Lasagne

May 7, 2006, 20 years ago: The rivalry between the professional soccer teams of North London takes its strangest turn ever.

Arsenal Football Club (a.k.a. "The Arsenal") and Tottenham Hotspur Football Club (a.k.a. "Spurs") are separated by 4.7 miles in North London. To put that in perspective: Imagine that, in New York City, the Yankees and Mets played each other regularly, and that, while the Mets played in Flushing Meadow as they actually do, the Yankees played in Astoria, instead of the South Bronx.

The relationship is similar -- or it would be, if the Mets, instead of being the successors to the baseball version of the New York Giants, were a continuation of the same team: Great long ago, but only sporadically so since the Yankees first began winning, perennially getting humiliated by the more successful club, treating every win over the more successful club like you'd just won a world championship, and collapsing just as glory seems within your grasp.

But Met fans think the Yankees have unfair advantages: Money (true), getting the benefit of the doubt from the officials and the league office (don't make me laugh), favorable treatment by the media (don't take drugs). Tottenham fans think Arsenal have these advantages, and one more: Arsenal "bribed their way into the First Division in 1919." (It's been over 100 years: Not one shred of evidence has ever been found to back up this fact that "everybody knows is true.")

Therefore, both Met fans and Spurs fans claim a moral high ground over their local rivals. This results in a huge superiority complex and a huge inferiority complex at the same time.

Even the mottoes are similar: The Mets' is "Ya gotta believe!" while Spurs' is "To dare is to do."

I've mentioned before that the Mets are the Tottenham of New York, and that this might not be fair... to the Mets. Tottenham have not won their league since 1961, while the Mets, who started in 1962 as a replacement for the Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers (who left for California in 1957), have now won their league 5 times. (The real "Tottenham of New York" is hockey's Rangers, complete with their idiot thug fans: They talk as much trash as Yankee and Arsenal fans do, but they don't get the results to back it up.)

Tottenham have won England's top division of soccer (or, as they say, "football") twice, both times clinching at their home ground of White Hart Lane: In 1951 and 1961. They beat the same opponent both times: Sheffield Wednesday.

Arsenal have also twice clinched England's top division of soccer (or, as they say, "football") at White Hart Lane: In 1971 and 2004. They beat the same opponent both times: Tottenham.

Arsenal have won the League 13 times, including 6 times since Spurs' last title: 1971, 1989, 1991, 1998, 2002 and 2004.

Tottenham have won the FA Cup, England's national tournament, 8 times. This is actually a very impressive total. But they haven't won it since 1991, when they beat Arsenal in a Semifinal. They haven't even been to a Final since, going 0-3 in Semifinals, including losing to Arsenal in 1993 and 2001. Arsenal have won the FA Cup 14 times, more than any other club, including 9 times since Spurs last did: 1993, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2020.

Because of their association with the old Royal Arsenal in Woolwich, in what's now Southeast London, Arsenal have always had a cannon on their club crest, and are thus known as the Gunners. Their fans, known as Gooners, like to say that Tottenham Hotspur, named for early 15th Century English rebel Henry Percy, a.k.a. Lord Harry Hotspur, are "forever in our shadow."

But every so often -- currently, we are in one of those moments -- the lopsided advantage in honors that tilts toward Arsenal looks like it might be reversed, what Spurs fans call "a power shift in North London."

A decade ago, there was one of those moments. But it ended up getting flushed down the toilet. Almost literally.

In 2005-06, Arsenal had their best Champions League campaign ever, reaching the Final. That Final, still the closest Arsenal have ever come to winning the European Cup (the UEFA Champions League format kept the name for the trophy), turned out to be the last appearance in Arsenal's colors for Dutch forward Dennis Bergkamp, French winger Robert Pires, English centreback Sol Campbell (who controversially transferred from Spurs to Arsenal 5 years earlier), and, controversially, English left back Ashley Cole.

Cole had grown up as an Arsenal fan and in Arsenal's youth system, but had been "tapped up" by West London rivals Chelsea, and would go to them due to new owner Roman Abramovich's spending spree, which had gotten Chelsea the 2005 and '06 Premier League titles. Cole has been known as "Cashley" to Gooners fans ever since.

But the 2005-06 season was the end of an era for another reason: It was the last season for the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury. The new Emirates Stadium -- some call it The Emirates, some by the area's former name Ashburton Grove, some cheekily call it New Highbury -- was going up, 500 yards away, and would open in the summer, the product of the success Arsenal had enjoyed in its 1st 10 years of management by the Alsatian genius, Arsène Wenger.

Arsenal wanted very badly to end the last game at Highbury with a win. It was against Manchester area club Wigan Athletic, and was expected to not be hard, but Arsenal have a history of losing the occasional game that they really should win.

But it wasn't just sentiment: Arsenal went into the season's League finale in 5th place in the Premiership, with Tottenham in 4th. All Spurs had to do in their game, which was away to East London club West Ham United, was match Arsenal's performance on that final day of the Premiership season, and it would be Spurs in the 2006-07 Champions League, with Arsenal "relegated" to the UEFA Cup -- unless, of course, Arsenal could win the CL Final, as the defending champion is always invited back.

The night before, Tottenham manager Martin Jol had secluded his players at a hotel, the Marriott Canary Wharf, in London's financial district, a.k.a. The City. This is not unusual: Many managers do things like this, even before home games. American football head coaches, in both the professional and the collegiate ranks, also do this. The players would have a nice dinner the night before the game, and get a good night's sleep, and would have a nice short bus ride to the stadium, all away from the prying of fans and the media.

What did Scottish poet Robert Burns say? Translated into modern common English, "The best-laid plans of mice and men often go astray."

In the middle of the night, 10 Spurs players woke up, vomiting, and/or having diarrhea: Robbie Keane, Edgar Davids, Michael Carrick, Aaron Lennon, Michael Dawson, Lee Barnard, Calum Davenport, Teemu Tainio, Lee Young-Pyo and Radek Cerny.

Someone decided to blame the lasagne they'd eaten for dinner that night, and after the whole thing was over, some Spurs fans started a conspiracy theory (shades of their delusions about 1919) that the Marriott chef was an Arsenal fan, and had purposely poisoned the Spurs players! It became known as Lasagne-gate.

In the morning, several Spurs players were still, uh, indisposed. So club chairman Daniel Levy called the League office, and asked League chairman Richard Scudamore to postpone the game.

Nothing doing: With 1 League game to go, all teams were to play their games at the same time, 3:00 PM. This was a change from past policy, to avoid teams whose League place had already been decided from laying down on the job, thus giving gamblers some easy pickings and paying customers a less than honest performance.

Levy protested: We have sick players, so can't the game be postponed until tomorrow? Or even until tonight, just to give us a few more hours to recover? Scudamore asked if Spurs had 11 players who could play. Well, yes, but... Then the game would go on. If Spurs wanted to postpone, they could refuse to play, but an inquiry would be held, and Spurs would likely lose that appeal, and the penalty for refusing to play would be a deduction of points, which would make a win in the rescheduled match meaningless.

West Ham officials said they were willing to accept a postponement, so long as it wasn't too close to the following Saturday, when they were to play Liverpool in the FA Cup Final (which Liverpool went on to win). Unlike Spurs, West Ham were not threatened with a points deduction for going along with the postponement (which makes sense, since it wasn't their idea).

But the police were afraid of what additional time to drink that day would do, considering the reputation that both Spurs' and the Hammers' fans had for hooliganism, including against each other. (A fight between fictionalized versions of hooligan firms from those clubs opened the 2005 film Green Street.) So the cops said they would allow the game to start no later than 5:00 -- an extra 2 hours, not much of a help for the last 2 players who still needed rehydration, Carrick and Lennon.

Carrick and Lennon

In the end, the game kicked off on time, at the traditional English football starting time of 3:00 in the afternoon, and only one of the affected players, backup goalkeeper Cerny, did not make it into the game, although Carrick had to be subbed off after 63 minutes, Lee (for fellow affectee Barnard) in the 78th, and Tainio (for fellow affectee Davenport) in the 87th.

*

That season was Wigan's first-ever season in the Premiership, and they had achieved midtable respectability, finishing 10th. An Arsenal win shouldn't have been assumed, but it was well possible. West Ham were about Wigan's equal, finishing 9th, and were hosting Spurs -- hence the Canary Wharf hotel, not far from the Hammers' Boleyn Ground, a.k.a. Upton Park.

Pires scored the Highbury opener, and, for the last time at that ground, the song "One-nil to The Arsenal" was sung -- by both Arsenal fans at Highbury and West Ham fans, learning by radio and text message, at Upton Park.

But Wigan struck back, and led 2-1. Spurs fans, getting calls and messages on their mobile phones, found out, and were ecstatic. And when Jermaine Defoe scored in the 35th to match Darren Fletcher's goal for the Hammers in the 10th, meaning Spurs were looking at a draw while Arsenal were losing, it looked like it would be Spurs' day.

It wasn't. Arsenal's superstar French forward Thierry Henry scored a hat trick, tallying in the 35th, the 56th, and the 76th with a penalty that was the last goal ever scored in the ground's 93-year history. Feeling that history, after putting the ball in the net, instead of launching a ghastly celebration, he bent down and kissed the grass. The final score was Arsenal 4-2 Wigan Athletic.

Of course, it wouldn't have mattered if Spurs had also won. But West Ham came from behind, and won 2-1 on a goal in the 80th minute by Yossi Benayoun, a midfielder from Israel.

Arsenal finished 4th, 2 points ahead of Tottenham, and qualified for the Champions League; Tottenham, finishing 5th, went to the UEFA Cup.

*

The remains of the supposedly offending lasagne were sent to a laboratory, and tested. As it turned out, there was nothing wrong with it, at least not medically. The virus that spread among the Spurs players was real, but it had nothing to do with food.

Still, Spurs fans blame that lasagne, and the chef that served it. Just like the Yankees-Red Sox "Curse of the Bambino," the lasagne contagion never really existed, but it has taken on a life of its own, because the afflicted team's fans believed it. And so, to spite them, ever since, Arsenal fans have sung, to "Volare":

Lasagne, whoa!
Lasagne, whoa!
We laughed ourselves to bits
when Tottenham got the shits!

Which matches another Arsenal chant. I don't know how far back it goes, but it was already in place in early 2007:

Q: What do you think of Tottenham?
A: Shit!
Q: What do you think of shit?
A: Tottenham!
Q: Thank you!
A: That's all right! We hate Tottenham and we hate Tottenham! We hate Tottenham and we hate Tottenham! We hate Tottenham and we hate Tottenham! We are the Tottenham haters!

Indeed, Tottenham didn't finished higher than Arsenal in the League between 1995 and 2017. They then did it 4 times in a row, before Arsenal took over again in 2022.

For talk among their organization, and talk among their fans, and talk among the media, all combined, and then divided by results, Tottenham Hotspur are arguably the biggest joke franchise in sports on planet Earth, any sport, any country.

Lasagne-gate may have been the highest moment -- or the lowest, if you prefer.