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The Youth Team was playing well too, keeping us within sight of the League
Cup. They faced Watford City in the 3rd Round and goals from Anthony McCann
and Craig Flynn ensured a plump 4th Round tie against Leeds United. Another
2-1 win, with Flynn scoring again and aided by a goal from Junior Elliott
saw us qualifying for the Quarterfinals against Crewe Alexandra. We were
1-0 down in the first half before clawing one back through Calaio and then
taking the lead from Barrett's goal in the 62nd minute. A 3-minute goal
blitz in the 72th minute saw the score line shifting from 3-1, to 3-2 and
then finally 4-2 as Calaio converted a penalty. Final score, Arsenal had
won 4-2 against Crewe. The Semi Final draw pitted us against Rochdale. Arsenal was cruising in the league by recording our 20th consecutive league
win and a 38-match unbeaten run with a 2-1 win over Liverpool. The run was
broken by Leeds United who scored a 2-1 win over us with goals from Ian
Harte and Jamie McMaster. Still we were leading in the league and had a
match against archrivals Manchester United coming up next. Prior to the Manchester United match, we had to face Corinthians of Brazil
in the World Club Cup match in Japan. It would turned out to be the best
display ever by Arsenal. As I had information gathered from Aimar and Saviola
who had played them before when they were with River Plate. 62,000 fans
gathered at the National Stadium in Tokyo for the match. Arsenal started
strongly and had Corinthians on the back foot. 16 minutes later, Aimar had
the ball in the net after a great pass from Alan Quinn. On the half-hour,
Aimar latched onto a loose ball by a Corinthians player before sending it
towards Saviola in the area. GOAL! 2 minutes later, Edu gave a lifeline
to Corinthians when he scored a total fluke goal over a stranded Frey. After
the restart, it was Corinthian's turn to attack. 8 minutes later, Eder forced
Frey to parry a hard shot into the path of Luciano. GOAL! They have pulled
level! But Arsenal weren't going to give up and they started to counter
attack. In the 63rd minute, Van der Vaart sent a cross to Noble who headed
the ball into the path of the onrushing Aimar. He shoots. GOAL! 6 minutes
later, Saviola got free in the area and that's a dangerous thing to allow
him to do so. GOAL! 3 minutes later, Noble scored after some neat work by
Upson that allowed him acres of space. Corinthians started to defend in
numbers but the damage was done. Saviola nailed in the final nail and thus
completing his hat-trick by dribbling into the area before unleashing an
unstoppable shot. GOAL! Arsenal had won the Cup by thrashing Corinthians
6-2![ScreenShot] If the previous match against Corinthians was the best display ever, the
next match against Manchester United would be the most satisfying. 70,000
were on hand to view the slaying of the Devils. It was quite unfortunate
for United to lose their goalkeeper with just 5 minutes being played, Barthez
made a mistake while attempting a goal kick when his foot struck the ground,
leaving him in pain. Substitute goalkeeper Jose Maria who had an earlier
injury before the match had to play, as Barthez couldn't continue anymore.
He aggravated the injury when Saviola tested the United goal and was soon
on his way out too. That opened the floodgates for us and within 3 minutes,
Henry had scored twice. At the end of the first half, we were 5-0 ahead.
We added 2 more goals in the second half to equalise United's worse defeat
in their history. Barrett would have made us famous by scoring the eighth
when we were awarded a penalty but he failed and we were left with a devastating
7-0 win over Manchester United. At the press conference, Barrett said that
he pitied the stand-in United goalkeeper and that's why he struck a weak
shot. I defended his actions and said that a 7-0 win is more than good enough
for us. That match was our 19th match and with half of the season gone,
we were 14 points ahead of Chelsea with a game in hand.[ScreenShot] January saw Arsenal taking part in the 4th FIFA World Club Championship
held in Japan. European teams have dominated the finals for the past 2 editions
with us lifting the title twice after seeing off the challenge of Real Madrid
and Barcelona. This year we were drawn together with Vasco da Gama (Brazil),
DC United (USA) and home team Jubilo Iwata. Our first match was against
Jubilo Iwata at the Yokohama International Stadium. Joe Cole was the star
of the match by scoring a hat-trick, the first of his career. And Cassano
added a fourth to give us a 4-0 lead in the first half. The second half
saw only one goal being scored. It was a consolation goal by Norihiro Nishi
for Jubilo Iwata. Final score, Arsenal beat Jubilo 4-1. The second match was against Vasco da Gama. Saviola scored a brace while
David Noble added another to make sure that Arsenal came out as 3-1 winners.
Vasco finished the last 12 minutes with 10 men after Leo was sent off for
a professional foul. Cassano was on fire in the last match against DC United.
He struck a hat-trick while Calaio and Elliot scored one apiece as we thrashed
DC United 5-1.[ScreenShot]
The Americans were made to run around the pitch by our superb
passing play. The final saw us taking on Ajax Amsterdam. 62,000 spectators gathered at the National Stadium in Tokyo to catch us
on display. A month ago we were here for the World Club Cup match against
Corinthians. Ajax started strongly as they wanted to avenge for the European
Cup defeat last season. They were soon rewarded when Tomasz Mazurkiewicz
scored in the 15th minute. But 6 minutes later they were down to 10 men
after Horacio Peralta was sent off. Arsenal equalised when Henry scored
from the spot after Joe Cole was held back in the area. Half time ended
1-1. 2 minutes into the second half, Woodgate latched onto a loose ball
outside the area before unleashing a piledriver. GOAL! The game was soon
put to rest when Alan Quinn scored after some great footwork by Joe Cole
just outside the area. We had won the World Club Championship for the third
time in a row.[ScreenShot]
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