Eurocup Final: A match between the best

I said to a friend of mine last Wednesday that I had a feeling Italy would be making it to the final of the Eurocup. I wasn’t thinking about statistical or historical data (Germany has never defeated Italy in official competition) but rather on Italy’s display through the tournament. They may not be the best squad in the tournament but, in my opinion, they have been the best team.

Left behind are the days when Italy was the catenaccio team with its extremely defensive display and lack of offensive football. Prandelli has found a new personality for this team, which still relies on solid defending but also displays a swift transition defense to offence and vice-versa. Italy moves like a unit and rather than giving the ball away, they play it really good thanks to a stellar Pirlo.

Having said all that, Italy is up against the best squad in the tournament. Rather than concentrating on defending or attacking, Spain is the master of possession. If Spain wants to have the ball there is no much their rivals could do. Though this may not guarantee victories, I believe whichever team controls the ball has more chances of winning. Spain has also the psychological advantage of knowing they are the team to beat. Prove of this is how its rivals, even Italy, modify their initial formation when they play against them.

It’s hard to say what will happen this Sunday, as these are, without a doubt, the two best teams of the tournament. Italy needs no only an inspired Pirlo but also a concentrated Ballotelli. He has shown he’s capable of the best (his game against Germany) and the worst (his game against Spain). Spain on the other hand needs to capitalize on the chances they get, which I expect will be not many. May the best team win…

Champions To Become Champion

King of Kings: Barça became the champion of the king’s cup for the first time since 1998 last Wednesday in Mestalla; a stadium that oddly enough was the same where they conquered the same title 11 years ago. Barça entered the final with the handicap of having played three decisive games in a row against Madrid, Chelsea, and Villareal; each of those games meant a lot to the team and Pep did not hesitate to put his best men in every single of those games. Athletic, on the other hand, had been preparing the final with up to 2 month un advance; and since they had already saved a spot for the next year’s Liga they weren’t even playing their best men for a couple of weeks so they could be rested for the final. But this Barça is just too good and too tough to beat. Despite the fact that Athletic scored first, Barça was able to remain quite and soon take control of the game which led to a water clear victory over the “lions” of Bilbao. It is fair to say that Athletic put a lot of pressure on Guardiola’s men but Barça never gave up their style; something that caught up my attention was how Pinto never kicked the ball away but rather passed it to his defenders despite the fact that he had 2 rivals near him; even though this was a risky move by Pep it ended up paying as the first two goal started from the goalkeeper which is one of the elemental rules of this team.

La Liga Almost Ready: Even though winning La Liga should have happened last weekend at Nou Camp when Barça was playing Villareal, a tie played out to be the best to happen. It allowed the team not to distract from the King’s Cup final while celebrating La Liga. Sure, it would have been nice to win it at their home stadium accompanied by their people but realistically speaking after the victory against Madrid La Liga has already an owner; it’s just a matter of when they will officially proclaimed. This weekend they can start playing being champions already if Real Madrid do not comes from El Madrigal with three points; the best thing about winning la Liga before playing is that it would allow him to put a lot of bench players in the main team and give a well deserved rest to men like Messi, Eto’o, Xavi, or Pique. If Madrid wins, which is very unlikely seeing how well Villareal is playing, then Barça would only have to tie in their feud against Mallorca. Statistically speaking, they have added at least one point every time they have played in Las Palmas the last 7 years. Once this title of officially given to Barça they would be the first absolute champions of Spain (League & Cup winner) in 11 years.

Thinking in Rome: With the King’s Cup won and La Liga almost done, Pep has his eyes on only in the final of the champions’ League. Winning La Liga this weekend would give him a lot of time to think only in Rome, take the pressure of his men, and don’t let any euphoria enter the locker room. Just to show how serious Guardiola is about this tournament he fined six of his players for showing up one minute late for the training of today. Not even after playing such a beautiful final was Pep to go easy on his player. The message is perfectly clear: the job is not over. Barça is right now in a unique position of completing the hat-trick of titles; something that only four teams have been able to do and none of which are from Spain, Pep knows it and he wants his team to know it as well. Rome is in the horizon but for now let’s enjoy this weekend which will be when Barça claims the title for the 19th time.

The Craziness Begins

Round 24 of La Liga was played this weekend and it seems as though we have entered bizarro world. The environment right now reminds me of the days after Barça defeated Madrid at Nou Camp 2-0 where somebody that didn’t have idea about the classification would have thought that Madrid had already won the title. Right now that is the atmosphere in Spain; but the only difference is that right now Madrid has arguments valid for being that way because they have been adding 3 points every weekend whereas Barça have given away a couple of them. This is the situation: 3 weeks ago Barça was 12 points away from Madrid; today they are only 7.

The Crap-o-meter is activated: this imaginary device symbolizes what Barcelona fans are about. If after losing against Numancia on the first round somebody would have said to us that today, February 22nd, we would be with an advantage of seven points we would have been more than happy. However, now everybody doubts of this team, of the coach and everything. This team has shown that in attitude alone it can win matches that are key for winning any championship. So what would put an end to all these fears and worries? Winning in France against Lyon and in Madrid against Atletico next weekend; right now starts the key part of the season. It is believed that La Liga is won in the last 10 rounds and that is, to certain extends, true. But Pep doesn’t want to wait until the last 10 rounds. The idea is to enter them with the at least 10 points of difference.

Injuries and Ref doesn’t help. Yesterday we lost Abidal for at least 2 months due to an injury. During the week we also lost Iniesta but in his case is nothing that bad and he will be out for only 15 days. In fact, I’m almost sure that he will be ready before and will play against Atletico the next weekend. Right now all we can do is pray that Injuries finally respect us a little bit. Until now there hasn’t been many but one can only hope that we don’t see them again. Since 2005 we have seen Edmilson, Messi, Xavi, Motta, Larsson, Eto’o, and Iniesta missing big chunks of the seasons. Let’s hope Abidal is the last one to suffer one of these big curses. Add to that the fact that we have incompetent referees nowadays that try to be the highlight of the game. One referee was even suspended for 3 rounds after he clearly benefited Madrid against Osasuna. Yesterday, the referee did something that you never do as a ref; he listened to the petitions of one team and shows a straight red card that was worth of only a yellow. He conditioned the game and in the end he made everything easy for Espanyol to win at Nou Camp after 27 years.

Eto’o has matured. We all remember that shameful episode at Villafranca in 2007 when he publicly criticized Rijkaard and Ronaldinho after a misunderstanding. That time everybody questioned his professionalism after he drop such a bomb to the media who just couldn’t be happier after getting that many controversies in such a short period of time. We all doubted that he would change or he would stay. However, Eto’o has finally grown up as a person and thinks before he talks. This year he’s been very prudent with the media and what he says. In the last couple of weeks there was a lot of talk about his future and many in the media believed that he would be leaving the team after this season. To add more wood to the fire he said in an interview that he knew his future already but would not say anything to anybody. The media, hungry for controversy, dedicated the whole week to comment on this and making up all these theories about where he was leaving etc. But yesterday Samu was very mature and revealed his plans so the speculations would stop. He also asked the media to please comment on things about the game and leave the rest (rumours) to the end of the season. A tip of my hat to you Samu

Rumour-mania 2009 II

Last month we started to get the first round of rumours which included the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Benzema. Now it is a little bit deeper and new names have shown up. Some rumours start to have some logic background while others are just pure speculations. So let’s look at the new media stories

Eto’o…only he knows. Samuel Eto’o will have to decide this coming summer whether he wants to stay in Nou Camp or not. His contract will expire in 2010 and Barcelona cannot afford to have the best striker in the world leave and not make a reasonable 30 million or more profit. There are those who think that Eto’o will likely score more than 30 goals this year just to leave to another team. Others think that he wants to stay in Barça. But only he knows; Barcelona has already tried to establish some contacts with his manager to set a contract extension deal but Samuel has strongly denied such possibility now due to the fact that he wants to be focused on the team only. This can only mean that he will negotiate a new contract but under his terms. His business card: 118 goals in 5 seasons so far. This season alone he’s scored 21 goals in 21 games.

Cristiano Again. Real Madrid is at the moment like that annoying kid who won’t stop crying until he gets what he wants. Every day there is a new “secret”, yet known, plan to finally bring the so called first, second and third best player of the world Cristiano Ronaldo. The last plan seems to be the one that finally will work. According to Spanish sports newspaper AS Real Madrid got a loan of 50 million euros approved by Santander Bank that will help them pay the high cost of Ronaldo which is expected to be around the 100 millions. Meanwhile, recently signed player Huntelaar is barely playing and hasn’t even scored. Not a good situation for a 20 million euro player. To add just a little more to the rumour party that is currently Real Madrid they just announce that if Florentino Perez is running for presidency again he will more likely bring Ancellotti as his coach for the team. This is not the best scenario for a team that needs to win La Liga and the UEFA Champions League…or are they passively surrendering?

The New Addition to Team Rumour. Recently a new name has been the talk of the month. This time is not Ronaldo or Benzema. Instead this is a new face which can engage Barça and Madrid in a never-ending battle once again. The man is a fantastic player worth 28 million euros and a place in any team in world. I’m talking of course about Frank Ribery. The Frenchman is said to be a bit unhappy at Munich and willing to change air in the near future. Barcelona and Madrid have expressed their desire to add this fantastic player to their line-up. For Barcelona, it would mean to add the final piece of the puzzle to their already fantastic attacking line. Ribery is a wing by nature that does wonders in both of them; at Nou Camp his place will be at the left wing. Madrid on the other hand wants to make an impact and forget about the present season. Recently on loan player Foubert seems to be more of the same low quality players that they have bought so it’s time to open the wallets again and bring some names and pretty game along.

Effortless Victory

Was that a semi-final? That is the question many people who followed the Barcelona VS Mallorca game asked after seeing such a low standard encounter. Being a semi-final of what it used to be the second most prestigious tournament in Spain turned out to be a pseudo- friendly match between these two teams. Let’s be honest, the king’s cup is no longer a desired cup for big clubs such as Barcelona; and it’s even worst for teams in relegation zone in the league as they basically care more for staying in the first division which is perfectly understandable. The script was well written. Barça: Top team in his way to winning the league and with hopes for their 3rd European crown. Mallorca on the other hand is battling to stay in first division and winning this cup will do nothing for that cause. The final result? Teams playing their bench players, fans not showing up to the game.

Barça takes a nap and win. Slow game, poor spectacle with only 2 players giving us a reason to care; I’m talking about Bojan and Iniesta. But I cannot blame Barcelona for napping all the game. Mallorca showed no desired, no ambition to do an effort to at least try to win. Add to that the fact that the referee wanted to be the highlight of the game giving up to 4 yellow cards in the first half of which only 1 was a “maybe”. The good news is that Barça, even when napping, was able to pull a nice result. 2-0 with 2 gorgeous goals was the best reward to the die-heard fans that show up for that game. This lead is important because should the score at Ono Stadi, Mallorca will have to score 4 goals to pass. Barcelona as of now has a foot and half of the other in the final

Good news for Pep. Guardiola had more than one reason to worry at the end of last game in Santander when he learned that he had no defenders available for this weekend game against Sporting. Puyol was out due to an injury; Marquez saw red card as well as Pique; and on top of that, Alves saw the 5th yellow card which cause a suspension of one game. Things could be worse for Barça as one of the reasons for their success attacking is their solid defence. Nonetheless, Puyol seems to be recovered sooner than expected and he might be playing this weekend and the committee of sport decision revocked the 5th yellow of Alves after Barcelona presented reasons to backup that petition. This weekend the defence will be better than expected and sporting is not in very good conditions. A tough game it will be but it is hard to see sporting resisting Barça’s arsenal.

Theodore Messi

Heavenly Sent. By definition, the name Theodore comes from the Greek Theodoros meaning “gift from god”; that is what Messi represents to Barcelona. A gift from God that on the pitch seams almighty and capable to do whatever he wants whenever he wants. He doesn’t need to play 90 minutes to show his class and magic. Today, he started on the bench in “El Sardinero” home stadium of Racing de Santader and Barça had a hard, very hard, time to get into the game. But in minute 59, when Barcelona was losing 1-0, everything changed and like a gift sent from god himself Messi changed the game scoring 2 goals and making us all forget the he’s only human and just 21 years old.

Worst Game of the Year. Despite the fact that Barça won one has to admit that it was a horrible display from the Catalans today. Poor passing, lack of control, no shots on goals in the first half etc. all of this things can be a sign or either relaxation or lack of energy of the team. Also Racing did a good job putting pressure on every line of Barcelona; normally the first line plays almost in the midfield which allows the total control of the game and makes the mesmerizing futbol possible. Today though, Marquez and Pique were almost planning on their own area. Eto’o didn’t appear during the whole game; Busquets played really bad especially passing the ball; Alves barely appear today and made a HORRIBLE foul that should have seen red card. Overall, there is ton of work to do with this team because the league isn’t near yet.

TOP 10 Barça. This is a top ten of the best 10 players at the moment for Barcelona. Starting today, every Sunday I will publish the top 10 players
1- Messi: plays like nobody else in the world. Even when he’s not playing well his presence alone is an advantage for Barça.
2- Xavi: Doesn’t need to have the ball all game but when he does have it he’ll send it where it needs to go
3- Alves: In the season, along with Messi, is my candidate for MVP of the year. However, today he showed very little and as a supporter of fair play I cannot tolerate the criminal foul he made.
4- Iniesta: today he showed very little as the whole team but when he had the ball always ended in a free kick
5- Eto’o: nothing from the Cameroonian today. But remember, he’s still the best striker in Spain
6- Henry: created a bit of danger and from his boots came goal number 1
7- Toure: Yaya is a player that doesn’t show his class or at least is hard to spot but when he’s not in the pitch is very missed
8- Valdes: good display from victor today. He couldn’t do much in the penalty kick but then again he never stops them
9- Abidal: lack of concentration has always been his biggest weakness.
10- Busquets: this kid still is the revelation of the year. Plays like a pro and has the age of a junior team member. Today though, he was horrible in the passes.

Half Time Show

We Reach the Equator.So the first half of La Liga is officially over and the roles of this league seem to be defined very well. Barcelona is as this very moment the team to beat. Statistically in the last 10 years the champions reach the title with an average of 70 points approximately. So this means that all Barcelona has to do is win their game at home and they’ll win the title. However, doing so is not easy task. Futbol is known as the beautiful game but I also consider it the cruellest at time. If Barça relaxes and think that they have done it all they will fail. Each half of La liga can be so opposite from the other that it is unbelievable. Remember last year Espanyol and how Ernesto Valverde had done such a good job on the first half of the season but soon enough they started to get in a negative dynamic to the point that even today that team doesn’t seem to react.

The Keys to Succeed. Guardiola is a man that likes to play the cards close to the chest. Understanding how Barcelona’s performance has been so great cannot be done 100% accurately because there are so many things that Guardiola does that are completely unknown to the public. From what is known one can gather that it is important to do proper pre-season. I remember back in august they were training really hard and as a result of that we see after 19 games a team that seems to have unlimited stamina. Thanks to that preparation which includes specific work outs, custom made diets for each player, tactical work and so on we see guys like Alves and Puyol playing almost every game and being at a top condition. Pep also introduced a new internal code of behaviour to the team that has been applied many times; prove of that is the fine that he set on the team for showing up 3 minutes late to train. Pep is a “futbol-addict’ and he has introduced a good method of managing a team that is giving, up until now, more than excellent results. When one analyses the situation of Real Madrid we can see how there was no connexion between the team, the coach and management. Thanks to that miscommunication they are 12 points behind.

Next Stop: Montjuic. Barcelona will be playing this Wednesday their town rivals. With Pochettino as their new coach there is a little bit of emotion because the white and blue team will want to make a good impression on the coach. On the other hand, there are a lot of chances that the players don’t get the coach’s message so they end up losing. Guardiola has a big advantage that is all players seem to adapt and play well with each other even if they don’t do so frequently. Except Alves,most players don’t play regularly with each other but this is barely noticeable when you see them playing. I expect Iniesta in the main team along with Alves; the rest of the team is an enigma. 5 games separate Barcelona from conquering a cup which they haven’t won in more than 10 years. The final stop is at Mestalla where the final will be played but before that the next stop is Montjuic

Pep Tunes the Band

One of the key of the success that up until now Barcelona has had is that they all seem to be “dancing” at the same pace; and that pace is dictated by the leader of the band, Guardiola. From Laporta to the 3rd goalie, everybody at Barcelona seems to be going in the same direction. The message is clear: with hard work, talent, respect and humility the results will come.

Camacho finds the key of Barcelona’s success. Former Spanish coach said before the game with Barcelona that the key to the success of Guardiola’s team is that they are superstars that play and work like working-class men. Over the past months the media has gone crazy trying to find the best description to the game of Barça; from “Dream Team V2” to “Extraterrestrial Team” all adjectives and names have been given but it was Camacho who hit the nail on the head and unfortunately for him he suffered the working-class mentality of Barcelona this past weekend. Barcelona came back from a 2-1 and in only 20 minutes scored twice to win 2-3 (and it could have been 2-4 or even 2-5). Daniel Alves, Xavi, Eto’o and Messi showed how this team works as hard as anybody to get what they want. Alves, in my opinion, is at the moment the best player in Barça; he plays extremely well defence and attacks just as good. Messi showed that he can decide a game at any time; and Xavi even risk his foot (he was faulted horribly at the moment he shot) to score a goal. And I could go on with the whole team.

Barça plays with fire. Early Warning. Just as Camacho foresaw what was going to happen Guardiola also said that Osasuna at their home stadium were very hard to beat; “if we relax we’re going to pay for it” were the words of Pep during the week and for more than a minute we all thought that we were going to lose the game. Barcelona finished a very good first half of the game but them somehow they decided to show up 20 minutes after in the second half. By the time they “woke up” the game was already 2-1. After the great comeback Guardiola said “ this goes to show that this team, at the moment, is the champion of nothing. We played with fire today and this cannot be tolerated” the real challenge for Guardiola started yesterday. The team showed signs of relaxation which terrified Guardiola. Perhaps it was the stadium; after all, El reino is never an easy place to visit, or perhaps it was the horrible weather conditions; or maybe even the tough game that Osasuna was playing (of which I will talk in my next column). But at the moment we don’t know. Next week Deportivo La Coruna is coming to Nou Camp so the time is perfect to test this team.

Now to finish the past in the King’s Cup. This Wednesday Barcelona will receive Atletico at Nou Camp to finish up the pass to quarter of final of the king’s cup. Even though they have a very comfortable advantage (1-3) they need to dominate Aguirre’s men. These two teams have seen amazing comebacks playing each others during the 90’s at this very tournament so Barcelona needs to play with the same intensity if they don’t want to play with fire again. Guardiola will probably alter the main team a bit and probably Messi and other regular players won’t be playing. However, if whoever plays keep doing it as they have been this band will play in quarters of final at the tune of Pep.

2009 Rumour-mania

Even though no European league is anywhere near from over this is the time of the year when the first speculations about possible transfer begin. Fifty percent of the rumours end up being just creations of the media so the can sell more newspapers in between games (remember there is no champions league for at least one more month) 40% happen to be very unlikely and only 10% of all rumours, maybe even less, end up happening.

Cristiano once again. Once again Cristiano Ronaldo makes the tabloids and once again it has to do with a new and “secret” plan that Real Madrid has to buy him. This time it involves an old yet familiar face for “los blancos”; Mr. Florentino Perez former president of club. Mr Perez is very well remembered or hated (depend on which club you follow) for his antics of buying the best players of the worlds or the galactic players as he used to called them. According to the “secret” plan Perez is going to bring Cristiano as his new Figo so he can get back to the power of the “white house”. A couple of weeks back some Spanish tabloid tried to input Messi into a similar rumour but unlike Figo, Messi will never play for Real Madrid. Cristiano is the perfect campaign flag for any candidate in Madrid and the best part is that at the end once Perez is chosen president he doesn’t even have to bring him; ask Calderon and what happened with the “If I win I’ll bring kaka”.

There are always the dreamers. Every player has a dream team; the one they imagine themselves playing when they are in junior high school and when money and contracts means nothing. So far we’ve heard Karim Benzema, the biggest French promise, saying “Playing for Real Madrid is my dream”. Real’s fan cannot ask for more because it just happen that Benzema is one of the dreams of the coaches at Barcelona and what better way to get some self-esteem as a club that having your rival’s hope cheering for you. But, at the end of the day this dreams that players have can mean so little and end up being just words without any meaning. We all remember hearing back in 2003 a young Robinho posing with a Barcelona jersey saying that it was his dream to play there; and then be also had Van Nistelroy, Robben, Sjneider also saying that Barcelona was a dream for them. Look where they all are. Also, every big team in Europe must be very happy to hear non other than Ribery saying yesterday that he was open to changing team in the near future.

FIFA World Player of 2008. Yes, this Monday we will finally know who it is. All logic indicates that Cristiano will be getting yet another trophy to his collection but in the last days, and thanks to the last 3 months of competition, the name of Messi is sounding strong especially after his last game against Atletico in the King’s Cup. I personally would be very surprise is Ronaldo doesn’t win it because his last season was just a dream; but just a Alexander Hleb said a week ago whoever thinks that right now Messi is not the best player in the world is simply blind. Either way both players, at their best, are a simply delight to any soccer fan and either one getting the title will be fair; if it comes to titles won then Ronaldo without any doubt will get the trophy, but if it comes to performance he lost a lot of points the last 4 months of the year.