Of all Arsenal’s players at the World Cup, the only one that was knocked out of the Group Stages was our Ghana international Thomas Partey (obviously we can’t include Ben White as he left due to “personal circumstances”), although Brazil also lost Gabriel Jesus to injury.
But the first round of the knockout stages yesterday saw the USA lose to Holland, with Arsenal’s Matt Turner conceding his first goals from open play and send him and his team-mates on the plane home.
Turner earned many plaudits from his performances in the four matches for USA, (the same amount as he has played for Arsenal this season) and there have been murmurs that he should have now earned the right to be playing every week in one of the big Leagues, if he cannot supplant Aaron Ramsdale at Arsenal.
The ex-USMT coach Bruce Arena think that Turner should now be considering his options. “Matt can’t be at fault for the three goals against and made several great saves in the second half to keep the US alive in the game. Like the team, this was the first time he was truly tested at the World Cup,” he told MLS Soccer.
“Now, Matt’s going to fall in line with the likes of Brad Friedel and Kasey Keller one day. He has to move out of Arsenal to start playing on a regular basis, but he’s proven himself to be a very good goalkeeper for the US.”
It’s hard not to admit that Arena has a point, as, for the rest of the season, Turner is only likely to play in Arsenal’s Europa League games, and maybe the FA Cup) until the end of this campaign unless Ramsdale comes down with an injury.
Arsenal have a few up-and-coming young keepers coming through now, Like Karl Hein and Arthur Okonkwo, so maybe Arsenal could cash in on Turner next summer and promote one of our youngsters that won’t mind being on the bench, for now…
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England training from Qatar, Saka and Ramsdale in action ahead of Senegal showdown
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