It's impossible to underestimate how much Tottenham Hotspur's 5-1 win over Arsenal last night in the Carling Cup semifinal means to that club. It's not only Tottenham's first win over its North London archrival in any competition since November of 1999, but it's also the closest the club has been to winning any competition since it reached the Carling Cup final in 2002.And Emmanuel Adebayor was not happy about it.
Frustration boiled over late on when, with (Arsenal) trailing 4-1 and preparing to take a corner, (Nicklas) Bendtner, who had already put through his own net, and the substitute Adebayor started pushing and shoving each other at the far post. Tempers were frayed further once the Dane had been cut -- there were suggestions that he had been head-butted by his team-mate -- with the pair eventually separated by their captain, William Gallas.
And here we thought big clubs didn't take the Carling Cup seriously.
The Arsenal striker, who had to be pulled away from Bendtner by teammates and was reportedly restrained by training staff in the tunnels after the match, later apologized for the incident, but that hasn't stopped the FA from reviewing television footage -- some of which is here (for now) -- to see if he should be suspended for improper conduct.
Of course, none of this would be happening if Togo had qualified for the African Cup of Nations, which is going on now in Ghana. Still, you can't look at this incident and not wonder if there's more to Adebayor's passing resemblance to Randy Moss than meets the eye. Is this an isolated incident, or is this the start of a rift in Goonerland? Time will tell the story on this one, won't it?
