When England’s Football Association began freaking out after getting ousted from the Euro 08 tournament and started blaming all the foreigners, we were surprised not one foreign player sat down in protest. And while we were shocked by that, we couldn’t see this coming: Arsenal’s peroxided Spaniard goalie Manuel Almunia is now one year away from British citizenship and willing to play with their national team, probably replacing the fossilized statute known to England and Tottenham fans as Paul Robinson.

“I am very proud to be part of Arsenal and I always have to give thanks to these people who give you everything,” Almunia said. “If you give them a little thing, I think they love you, and that’s fantastic. That doesn’t happen in Spain, no.”

“That’s because in England the people are more passionate and the people here are more humble. If they receive something, even a little thing, they give you double. For a player that’s unbelievable.”

Um, humble English fans? Let’s see how humble they are after your eventual 2-1 loss to Chechnya in the Euro 2012 finals. You’ll have to use a gimpy Beckham to deflect the Guinness bottles being hurled in your direction.

Almunia considers British citizenship [Fox Sports]
Image [football.co.uk]