Arsenal Y rams are teams belonging to Stan Croenke, but as incredible as it may seem, that is the only similarity that exists between the two. And it is that while the Gunners barely aspire to finish the season among the positions of European competitions, the Los Angeles team has stolen all the attention of the world of sports by being one of the protagonists of the superbowl.
On the one hand, we see a team that has earned respect by bringing in any number of reinforcements no matter the cost, doing whatever it takes to amass as much talent as possible. On the other side, in London, they are not even able to sign big-name players and they recently lost a of its great figures without finding a replacement for him in the pass market.
And most importantly, one team is one step away from winning the most coveted trophy in their sport, while the other seems to be a long, long way from those days. In short, the Rams are a team designed to win in the present and in the future, while Arsenal continue without consolidating a project that allows them to fight alongside Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea.
That’s why, when Kroenke watches the Rams take on the Cincinnati Bengals in this Sunday’s Super Bowl at the multi-million dollar stadium he helped build, it is almost certain that Arsenal will be what Less go through your head. And that is how the fans of the London team have felt it during all this time, precisely because of the obviousness of the course that each institution has taken.
It is worth noting that the Rams and Arsenal are not the only sports franchises owned by Kroenke, who also owns the Denver Nuggets (NBA), Colorado Avalanche (NHL) and Colorado Rapids (MLS). However, the Los Angeles and London teams are clearly the most important and the ones that are best known worldwide for everything they represent in their respective disciplines.
THE MOVE WITH WHICH IT ALL STARTED
The Rams are one win away from reaching the top of the NFL, being one of the best teams in American football since they moved from St. Louis to Los Angeles in 2016. Although at first it was seen as a rather controversial move, like any that involves taking a team from where its roots are, the truth is that over time it has been quite successful.
And it is that in Los Angeles, the Rams gained that brightness and personality of a true Hollywood team. His home, the SoFi Stadium, is considered by many to be the best sports stadium on the planet after an investment of more than 5 billion dollars. To get an idea of what this represents, it is an investment four times more expensive than the one needed for the new stadium in Tottenham.
Since this move took place, the Rams have not stopped adding reinforcements to be NFL champions, sacrificing money and future assets to achieve glory. They have traded any number of picks in the draft and used every cent of the salary cap to close the signing of starswith the illusion that such an investment will be rewarded with the Vince Lombardi trophy.
BUILDING A CHAMPION TEAM
For this season alone, the Rams brought in Odell Beckham Jr, Von Miller and Sony Michel to join a team that already had such stars as Cooper Kupp, Jalen Ramsey and Aaron Donald, and these players are arguably the best. that is in the NFL in their respective positions. However, the big move this year was the arrival of matthew stafford.
Stafford is the Rams’ starting quarterback, but he had spent his entire career with the modest Detroit Lions. When the opportunity arose in Los Angeles to bring in a quarterback with enough experience, they didn’t waste it: they traded Jared Goffhis former starter, along with a 2021 third-round pick and two first-round picks in 2022 and 2023 to bring in Stafford.
None of this compares to what Arsenal did. The Gunners haven’t even dreamed of bringing in a similar level of talent. Sure, they have wasted money to close additions like Ben White, Martin Odegaard, Aaron Ramsdale, Thomas Partey and Nicolas Pepebut there is no one who dares to say that these players are the best in the world in their position.
A REVOLUTION COMMANDED BY MCVAY
The Rams are in the Super Bowl for the second time in four seasons, something they have achieved thanks to an extraordinary head coach like Sean McVay. At 36 years old, he is the youngest to reach this instance and after the defeat in 2019 against Tom Brady’s New England Patriots, he is going for revenge against the Cincinnati Bengals who are living a true fairy tale.
McVay took the NFL’s lowest-record offense and turned it into a machine, changing the perception of the Rams in just a few short years. He also completely revolutionized the how do they see the youth coaches in american footballwith several of his assistants being hired by other teams who dream of finding the new McVay.
Several of McVay’s former assistants are now head coaches of top NFL teams, including Zack Taylor, his opponent in the Super Bowl. The same thing happens with matt lafleurwho led the Green Bay Packers to be the best team in the regular season, while Brandon Staley has completely reshaped Justin Herbert’s Los Angeles Chargers.
Arteta, by contract, has had to guide Arsenal through a series of negative streaks. Since the years before Arsene Wenger left, the Gunners have been in various crises and the coaches he has been in charge of have not been able to compete at the same pace as Manchester City and Liverpoolleaving the London club very far from those glory years with Thierry Henry and company.
EL ARSENAL, ANOTHER SPECTATOR OF THE SUPER BOWL
The sad reality of Arsenal contrasts with the good present of the Rams. The Londoners have faced a road full of obstacles this season, especially after the departure of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang that left the club without its star footballer. Nor did a replacement for the attack arrive, since the club did not show the same ambition of the Rams to maintain a team of figures.
As it stands, Arsenal sit sixth in the Premier League with games to go and very, very real chances of securing a top four finish. Doing so could serve as the necessary springboard to push this club back to the top of English football, where Gunners fans have dreamed of returning for years.
While in London they wait for that to happen, all they can do at this moment is watch their sister club compete for the most important title of its discipline in the United States and, of course, dream that one day the ambition shown by the Rams may come to Arsenal sooner rather than later.
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Super Bowl: Rams and Arsenal, two brothers who followed a very different path